Police drop hate crime charges against Tory councillor.
Cllr Anthony Stevens(Photo: Christian Legal Centre)Police have dropped all charges against a Tory councillor who was arrested for a hate crime after he shared his support for Christian expressions of free speech on social media.
Cllr Anthony Stevens, a member of Wellingborough Town Council, was arrested at his home in August after he tweeted his support for fellow Conservative councillor, King Lawal.
Lawal was suspended by the local Conservative branch and lost his position in several organisations after tweeting that "pride is sin". He has since been reinstated by his local Conservative Party group.
Police arrested Stevens at his home in front of his wife and children for apparently breaching section 19 of the Public Order Act 1986.
The arrest came after he posted a number of tweets in support of Lawal. In one post, Stevens retweeted a petition supporting the reinstatement of Lawal which he captioned with the words: "If you value free speech please sign and share."
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