A former district councillor who caused £3,500 worth of graffiti damage to public buildings and a memorial has been handed a conditional discharge.

Ian Driver, 64, blogged about and posted photographs of his “direct action”, in which he targeted the offices of Broadstairs Town Council, Dickens House Museum and the town’s memorial plaque to ‘Uncle Mac’.

Ian Driver speaking outside Margate Magistrates Court

He said he sprayed messages on the buildings to shame “institutionally racist” local authorities.

Yet despite admitting responsibility for daubing the buildings with anti-racist comments, he denied seven counts of criminal damage at his trial at Margate Magistrates’ Court on Monday, claiming his actions were justified.

He claimed Broadstairs and St Peter’s Town Council is racist because it supports and funds Broadstairs Folk Week, in which ‘blacked-up’ Morris dancers perform, and the Dickens House Museum, which commemorates an author he believes was a “genocidal racist”.

He targeted both buildings and a street sign, and also sprayed the Uncle Mac memorial in Victoria Gardens, which is dedicated to James Summerson, who led a blacked-up minstrel band which performed in the town between the 1880s and 1920s.

Prosecutor Edmund Body outlined the seven offences which took place in June last year and said it was agreed that Driver caused the damage.

Among his graffiti scrawls were ‘Dickens Racists’, ‘Racism by the Sea town hall’ and ‘Uncle Mac Must Go’.

His defence rested on his claims that his actions were brought about by “informed duress” in which he feared minority groups would suffer immediate threat unless he acted.

Driver, of Sea View Road, Broadstairs, was not legally represented in court.

Instead, he gave his own lengthy defence for his actions, saying he was “inspired” by the Black Lives Matter protests and the toppling of the Edward Colston statue in Bristol following the murder of George Floyd.

“At the time of my actions, councils were not complying with their legal duties under the Equalities Act,” he told magistrates.

“I had tried to reason with them but was getting nowhere and it shattered my belief in the democratic process. My actions were designed to bring about immediate policy change.

“It was peaceful and non-violent and morally and ethically justified. The damage was relatively minor and easily repaired.”

Driver, who is a former Citizens Advice Bureau manager and Labour and Green Party councillor on Thanet Council, added: “I think you have to look at the context of what I was trying to achieve against racially motivated crime.”

But Mr Body, prosecuting for the CPS, questioned the use of the phrase “immediate threat” and the defence of duress.

“What in particular were you protecting and how would it immediately stop racism?” he asked. He also argued that Driver could have used alternative legal processes to help achieve his aims.

But Driver said he believed his actions might have stopped damage to property, serious injury or even a death from racism.

The Bench deliberated for more than an hour before convicting Driver of all seven offences.

Presiding magistrate Angela Moyles said: “We do not accept there was an immediate lawful excuse or believe it was done to avoid circumstances that could not otherwise be avoided.

“The crucial question is not whether the defendant’s actions were justified but whether he can be excused on the grounds that a reasonable person would have acted in the same way.”

In his mitigation, Driver asked the court to take into account the “excessive” 30 hours he was kept in custody after his arrest and the 268 days he spent tagged while on bail.

He also said he and his wife are carers for two disabled daughters and the family lives on benefits.

Mrs Moyles said the offences involved a high degree of planning and were at the higher end of the threshold.

But sentencing Driver to a two-year conditional discharge, she said the Bench had taken into account his family circumstances.

He was also excused paying prosecution costs, but must cough up £1,400 in damages at the rate of £20 a month, which will take more than five years to clear.

After the hearing, Driver said he was disappointed with the conviction but believed the court had been fair with him.

He said: “I always thought that I would be convicted because the defence I used is seldom successful.

“But my actions were prompted by my strong personal beliefs and they gave me a punishment which reflected that.”

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