The statue of slave trader Edward Colston was fished out of Bristol Harbour this morning before being taken to a secure location four days after it was thrown in.
The monument was toppled during a Black Lives Matter protest on Sunday, but police have not yet made any arrests – despite the moment being recorded on film.
Early this morning council officials retrieved the statue and took it to a secure location before it will later form part of the city’s museums collection.
The statue of Edward Colston is pulled out of the harbour by Bristol City Council this morning
The statue of slave trader Edward Colston is fished out of Bristol Harbour this morning
A spokesman said: ‘As we run a working harbour, the statue needed to be removed. Thank you to Bristol Harbour and Bristol Museum and the salvage crew for assisting.’
It comes as experts said vandals who tore down the statue before dumping it in the harbour are likely to escape prosecution due to a legal loophole.
The protesters involved may never be prosecuted because it is unclear who the statue belongs to and there has so far been no complaint from the owner to police.
Under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 prosecutors must prove the statue ‘belonged to another’.
Without an owner coming forward to confirm they did not consent to the damage, the law protects defendants who are able to argue they had an ‘honest belief’ that the owner would have consented.
Bristol City Council is investigating whether it owns the statue, but even if it does local politicians appear unwilling to prosecute.
Matthew Scott, who runs the BarristerBlogger legal blog, said: ‘Normally the owner of damaged property will provide a statement to the police saying ‘I did not consent to the damage to my property’.
The statue of Edward Colston lies on the harbourside in Bristol today after being pulled out
The crane in place to lift the statue of Edward Colston out of the harbour by the council today
‘A prosecution for criminal damage without one would be highly unusual.’
It had been widely assumed that the Colston statue, which had stood in place for 125 years, was owned by the council.
But yesterday Bristol’s mayor Marvin Rees admitted ownership had not been ‘100 per cent established’ and the council’s legal team were trying to resolve the situation.
Bristol’s Society of Merchant Venturers built the monument in 1895, but last night it said it would not be staking a claim for it or making a complaint to police.
Mr Rees previously said: ‘As an elected politician I cannot condone criminal damage … but I am of Jamaican heritage and I cannot pretend that I have any real sense of loss for the statue or that it was anything other than a personal affront to me to have it in the middle of Bristol.’
Yesterday, when asked what should happen to those who pulled the statue down, he added: ‘I think the bigger question should not be about the individual perpetrators, it’s about what this means for Bristol and how we as a city go forward.’
The dramatic moment that the statue of Edward Colston was pulled from its plinth on Sunday
The Edward Colston statue is knelt on in a symbolic act by protesters in Bristol on Sunday
Black Lives Matter protesters roll the statue along the street towards the harbour on Sunday
One senior barrister said: ‘I think the Bristol case with the Colston statue case is dead in the water effectively.
‘With no loser statement from the owner and the ambiguity the council, the mayor and the police have shown in their statements it is very difficult to see how it could be argued that it is in the public interest to prosecute.
‘The defence would argue that they had a reasonable belief that the owner would be happy for me to do this and the prosecution could not counter that argument.
‘The CPS would evaluate that at an evidential stage and probably decide there is not a realistic prospect of conviction.’
Caroline Goodwin QC, chair of the Criminal Bar Association, said prosecutors would need to be satisfied an offence was ‘more than likely to have occurred’ and that ‘a public interest hurdle had been overcome’.
She added: ‘We need to have faith in the criminal justice system.
Protesters gather to throw the statue of Edward Colston into Bristol Harbour on Sunday
The statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston is pushed into the water on Sunday
‘This will only last if we continue to protect equally all our people from harm and lasting change will come through democratic means not mob rule which opens the gates to anarchy.
‘Focus must remain on orderly change within the law, which is where lasting freedom lies, and equality of opportunity resides.’
Last night Avon and Somerset Police confirmed they had made no arrests in relation to the toppling of Colston’s statue.
A spokesman added: ‘We’re in the early stage of our investigation and are currently collating statements and reviewing the large amount of footage available to us.
‘We’re seeking early investigative advice from the Crown Prosecution Service and will continue to liaise with them as the inquiry progresses.’
The force said its focus is on ‘identifying those responsible’, continuing: ‘As with all criminal damage investigations, we will look to obtain a statement from the owners of the damaged property.’