Nigel
Farage milkshake attacker pleads guilty
Victoria
Thomas Bowen admitted assault by beating and criminal damage after hurling the
drink at the Brexiteer in June.
October 21,
2024 1:56 pm CET
By Noah
Keate
https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-nigel-farage-milkshake-attacker-guilty/
LONDON — A
woman who threw a milkshake over Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage has pled guilty
to assault by beating and criminal damage.
Victoria
Thomas Bowen, 25, hurled the drink in Farage’s face during the U.K, general
election campaign in June as he left a Wetherspoons pub in the Essex town of
Clacton. The Brexiteer was launching his successful candidacy to represent the
constituency.
Thomas Bowen
also caused £17.50 of damage to a jacket belonging to Mr Farage’s security
officer James Woolfenden, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard.
She
previously denied the charges and was due to go on trial Monday but changed her
pleas to guilty before proceedings began. Thomas Bowen has been granted
unconditional bail ahead of her sentencing hearing on Dec. 16.
In a witness
statement read out in court, and reported on by the BBC, Farage said “this
incident caused me concern, as I have only been going about my job” and trying
to “have as much public engagement as possible.”
He added:
“I’m saddened that this has happened at a public campaign.”
The Reform
UK leader was also pelted with coffee cups that same month while campaigning in
Barnsley. The perpetrator of that attack was handed a suspended prison
sentence.
Since
entering parliament, Farage has not held in-person constituency surgeries, a
fixture of British politics. He has said he is not “allowing the public to flow
through the door with their knives in their pockets.”
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