The Metropolitan Police will take no further action over a photograph shared by Zack Polanski that appeared to show a T-shirt referencing the execution of Nigel Farage.
The Green Party leader faced a backlash on Monday after posting an image on Instagram of a man in a black T-shirt bearing the words, “We’re only making plans for Nigel,” alongside a picture of a guillotine.
The post prompted Mr Farage to call for his political rival to be arrested. Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman, Zia Yusuf, also accused Mr Polanski of “inciting murder”, with the party confirming it had reported the Green leader to police.
At the time, a Met spokesman said officers were “conducting inquiries” and that the force treated “reports of this nature extremely seriously”.
On Wednesday night, the Met Police said its investigation into the matter had been completed.
Mr Polanski has sought to defend his actions, saying he had not “done anything wrong” and describing the Instagram post, shared with his 713,000 followers, as an “inadvertent mistake”. However, he said he would not apologise for it.
Speaking to BBC Newsnight on Tuesday, Mr Polanski said police had not contacted him. He added that he “didn’t pay enough attention to the T-shirt” and was “horrified” by what he described as its “dangerous message”.
During the programme, the Green Party leader said: “This was not my post, it was a collaboration from a photographer.”
Nigel Farage called for Zack Polanski to be arrested after the Green Party leader shared a photograph of a man wearing a T-shirt ‘planning his decapitation’
Zack Polanski insisted he has not ‘done anything wrong’ after the Green Party leader shared a photograph of a man wearing a T-shirt allegedly ‘inciting murder’
‘It had 20 images and I just didn’t look carefully enough and I accepted it.
‘As soon as I was aware of what happened, I unaccepted it and took it down.
‘I think it would be odd for the police to speak to me about that because I think it’s quite obvious that I’ve not done anything wrong other than making an inadvertent mistake.
‘That being said, if the police do want to talk to me, of course I’m very happy to co-operate.’
A Met Police spokesperson said no further action would be taken after reviewing a number of conclusions.
The force said: ‘It is unlikely that the sharing of the image online would constitute a criminal offence. Officers have considered telecommunications, public order and other offences, including incitement, in reaching this conclusion.
‘The image in question was the 18th in a post containing 20 images. The person named on the reports received has stated publicly, either directly or in statements issued on his behalf, that he had not seen the specific image in question when he accepted the invitation to collaborate. Steps were taken to remove the post from his account when the issue was raised.
‘The post has since been shared (whether by collaboration, reposting or sharing) by around 130 accounts. The image has additionally been shared on many more occasions on other social media platforms. We must not treat individuals differently solely because of their public profile, and therefore any investigation would need to have considered not just the actions of the individual named in the reports, but of all 130+ people and organisations. Given it is unlikely their actions would have ultimately constituted an offence, such an extensive investigation was deemed to do be disproportionate and not a reasonable use of police resources.’
The Met said it had determined ‘that a crime should be recorded in relation to the wearing of the t-shirt’.
It said that as the event where the shirt was taken took p[lace in Bristol, the case had been transferred to the Avon and Somerset Police.
The force added: ‘We absolutely understand the reaction to this image being shared online, particularly in the context of increasing threats towards politicians.
‘We take the safety and security of those in public life, including politicians, very seriously. Where we identify threats we take appropriate action and where there is evidence of offences we will investigate.
‘While there will be people who will argue that those who shared the image in this Instagram post should be subject to criminal action, our review has concluded that on this occasion, the threshold is not met. We have spoken with those impacted to explain that decision making and to provide reassurance around our ongoing commitment to their security and the additional support available.’
– This is a breaking news story, more to come.
