By Simon Darby-Bit of a hectic day today however, since I was actually present during Mike Coleman's sentencing I had better tell you about the detail or else it will be lost forever.

Events had started just after 10am in Court 2 in front of His Honour Judge Trevor-Jones.

Not being present at the trial itself I wasn't aware that the prosecution had tried to ensnare Mike with a greater degree of severity owing to the proximity of his postings to the ethnic riots in London... They had attempted to elevate the seriousness of Mike's heresy by trying to attach a tariff similar to those deliberately inciting riotous behaviour.
In my opinion that was further evidence of the wicked distortion of this case that could be likened to criminalising the BBC's Robert Piston for his clinical appraisal of the financial crisis. In any case, as it happened, the Asian barrister for The Crown didn't twist the knife and simply reminded the judge of the previous verdict.

As for Mike's barrister he did a splendid job in mitigation reminding the court of the Cuss’s planned revision of the law when it comes to blogging etc.

He pointed out that what Mike had done was at the lower end of the scale and would probably not be an offence at all in six months.

Further to this it was established that Mike's good character was not in question and the amount of written statements from people he had helped in his community obviously coloured the judge's mind.

Judge Trevor-Jones did point out that being in the position he was as a former city councillor he had an added responsibility to be careful with what he said.

Obviously not used to dealing with BNP politicians the judge didn't realise that in this party we have a duty to tell the truth to our people.

We are not elected to tow the political correct line and sell the same lies to the electorate.
Driving home later in the afternoon, BBC Radio Stoke carried an interview with Mike and later tagged on a not so subtle statement issued by Stoke City Council.

It read simply, "Mike Coleman has been sentenced to eight months and will therefore not be able to stand for council for five years".

There we have it and since it was revealed that just one person had put in a complaint to the police, there's no prize for guessing who and why.

Below Mike Coleman gives a statement outside Stoke Crown Court earlier today and confidently answers a series of questions put to him by a reporter of the BBC.

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