Jail term for T-shirt slogan attacked

Oldham Euro-MP Chris Davies has condemned the prison sentence given to a man who wore an offensive T-shirt on the day Diggle police officer Nicola Hughes and her colleague Fiona Bone died.

The Greenfield-based MEP said Barry Thew, who wore a top bearing anti-police slogans in Radcliffe town centre just hours after the officers were killed, was entitled to free speech.

Thew (39), of Worsley Street, Radcliffe, was jailed for four months at Minshull Street Crown Court after officers saw him wearing the home-made top on September 18.

Speaking to BBC Radio, Mr Davies said: “I think even offensive idiots should have the right to freedom of expression in a free society. I don’t know how you draw the line if you don’t allow that.”

But he agreed with the interviewer that it is “completely wrong for someone to try and incite someone to commit a criminal act or to kill a policeman or anyone else.”


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