Man cleared of Griffin race abuse

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Tauriq Khalid, 23, denied shouting "white b*******" at far-right demonstrators in his home town of Burnley, Lancashire, in November last year.

A jury of five women and seven men cleared Khalid of one count of using racially abusive threatening behaviour after deliberating for 45 minutes following a three-day trial at Preston Crown Court.

Khalid admitted shouting derisory comments from his car window at far-right BNP demonstrators outside Burnley police station.

He told the jury he stopped his silver Vauxhall Astra and shouted abuse at Nick Griffin and made a V-sign with his fingers. But he denied making a gun gesture towards Mr Griffin, a North West MEP with an office in Burnley, or that he indicated he intended to shoot him.

He told the jury: "I shouldn't have done what I done really, it was just a spur of the moment thing."

Mr Griffin, giving evidence on the first day of the trial, claimed he was called a "white b******" by a young Asian man in a silver Astra.

He said the man "leaned out of the car and pointed at me and made a gun and gang gesture". Mr Griffin also claimed the defendant threatened him by shouting "I'm going to...".

He said that although he didn't hear the words, he interpreted them as a threat to kill or shoot him, prompting him to leave the demonstration fearing for his safety.

Khalid was arrested after one of the protesters noted down his car's registration number and complained to police. He declined to comment as he left court.