A Black Lives Matter activist who helped mastermind the protest which led to the toppling of Edward Colston’s statue during the first national coronavirus lockdown has today been jailed for fraud.

Xahra Saleem spent more than £30,000 in donations earmarked for charity to fund her lifestyle.

The 23-year-old activist helped mastermind the headline-grabbing BLM demo in Bristol during in June 2020 which saw slave trader Colston’s statue toppled and dumped in the harbour.

Saleem admitted fraud following a police investigation into a GoFundMe page called ‘BristBLM’ set up before the protest.