Two UKIP members have been acquitted of electoral fraud at Norwich Crown Court. Mike Monk and Daniel Thistlethwaite were both tried for having knowledge of a false signature on a nomination paper for the 2013 Council Elections in Great Yarmouth.

During the trial, 20-year-old Thistlethwaite was described as “fringe” character in the “pantomime of Great Yarmouth politics” by his barrister Adrian Harris. Mike Monk was accepted to be more significant as Deputy Chairman of the local UKIP branch, but he was still cleared.

The jury is still deliberating in the case of Matthew Smith, who was the Parliamentary candidate for UKIP in Great Yarmouth. Full details of the case cannot be released until the verdict in his case is delivered.

This story is developing…