Protester who hurled five eggs at King Charles found guilty
Protester who hurled ‘at least’ five eggs at King Charles as he accused him of being friends with paedophile Jimmy Savile is found guilty of threatening behaviour
- Thelwell shouted obscenities at the King during a walkabout in York last year
A protester who threw ‘at least five eggs’ and shouted abuse at King Charles, accusing him of being friends with paedophile Jimmy Savile, has been found guilty of threatening behaviour.
Patrick Thelwell, 23, a university student, was arrested by police in the crowd as bystanders rushed to protect the King and his wife the Queen Consort last November during a visit to York.
Michael Smith, prosecuting, told York Magistrates Court the eggs ‘passed over’ the King and narrowly missed him.
At court, Thelwell gasped in relief on being told he had dodged custody. He was let off with a community order, requiring unpaid work.
Announcing the guilty verdict, Senior District Judge Paul Goldspring said people could have been ‘harmed by the eggs’, but told him: ‘I will put your mind at rest. I am not going to send you to prison.’
Patrick Thelwell (pictured outside York Magistrates’ Court) has been found guilty of threatening behaviour after throwing eggs at King Charles
The court heard Thelwell shouted ‘King Charles is a paedophile’ as he threw five eggs at the new monarch
Footage caught the moment the eggs flew past King Charles as he was greeted by city leaders in the centre of York last year
During the incident Thelwell shouted obscenities as he hurled the eggs and as police arrested him.
Mr Smith said he shouted ‘paedophile’, ‘King Charles is a paedophile’ and ‘friends with Jimmy Savile’.
The court found Thelwell had ‘pre-targeted the King on the day’ and ‘intended his behaviour to be threatening’.
The judge also ruled the student intended to cause King Charles and others that immediate unlawful violence would be used against him and others.
He said: ‘The defendant had sought to characterise the throwing of eggs as non-violent. His conduct has gone beyond what would be seen as reasonable. He accepts it was low level violence.
Sentencing was adjourned for a short while to allow Thelwell to consult with a probation officer about what work he could do.
Thewell has two previous convictions, the first in 2019 for failing to comply with conditions imposed at public assembly.
Thelwell, who is a student of the University of York, is representing himself in court
He was given a 12 month conditional discharge over the incident imposed over an Extinction Rebellion demo near Marble Arch.
The offence also took place during a two year conditional discharge imposed in May 2021 for a protest outside a printing works at News international at Knowsley, Liverpool on Merseyside.
Extinction Rebellion protesters claimed the papers were not printing the truth about climate change.
He glued himself to the roof of a van blocking the road before releasing himself in September 2020.
He was convicted of obstructing the highway and admitted breaching the two year conditional discharge.
During the current trial, CCTV and police bodycam footage was played to the court, showing the egg-throwing incident and the aftermath.
The court heard Thelwell was heard to say ‘I threw eggs at him because that’s what he deserved. It’s the only justice the victims of colonialisation will ever get.’
Adding: ‘Did I get him? I didn’t get him. Someone will get him.’
Plain-clothed officers in the crowd were the first to grab the protesters before uniformed police also swooped, the court heard.
Thelwell was handcuffed and arrested by officers.
A sixth unbroken egg later fell out of his pocket before he was driven to the police station.
When questioned by police he refused to comment.
Thelwell denied a public order offence of using threatening, words or behaviour
PC Adam Steventon, who arrested Thelwell, said he was shouting ‘f*** the King’ and so he put his hand over his mouth to silence him as families were close by and upset by what the protester was saying.
He said people were ‘angry’ at what happened. ‘There was a lot of angry people there. One gentleman said “you’ve ruined this for everybody.”‘
When he was being taken out of his police station cell, an officer commented on the high heel on Thelwell’s shoes.
Thelwell replied ‘I know it’s so I could see him through the crowd’ and made a throwing gesture, said Mr Smith.
Thelwell commented that it ‘was a joke.’
In his defence Thelwell told Senior District Judge Paul Goldspring he was acting ‘out of necessity’ and he had not carried out unlawful violence.
‘The violence I was accused of is throwing an egg,’ he said.
‘If that amounts to unlawful violence then the violence carried out by the British state is at such a severe level I can’t be held accountable for my crime while the crimes of the British state go unpunished.’
Thelwell, who was representing himself in court, asked PC Steventon in cross examination if he had seen the crowd pulling his hair and shouting ‘for him to be killed’ and ‘for his head to be put on his spike’.
The officer replied: ‘No’.
Protesters outside York Magistrates’ Court, where Patrick Thelwell was found guilty of threatening behaviour
He also claimed the officer had repeatedly pushed his head into the ground but the officer denied this, adding: ‘Anything we did towards you was done with absolute minimum force.’
After viewing a video of the incident, PC Steventon added: ‘I did put my hand on his head as he shouted these obscenities but I don’t think anyone would say I did this with any degree of force.’
Thelwell claimed his actions towards the King were ‘lawful violence’ and he did not resist arrest.
Thelwell, who is doing a masters in international relations delivered a speech to the court about the ‘obscenity of the monarch flaunting their wealth and power in the City of York.’
Thelwell said ‘millions of people’ agreed that ‘my actions were just, moral and necessary.’
He claimed the British state was committing ‘tyrannical state violence’ and ‘crimes against humanity’ through its economic and climate policy.
He also criticised the government’s policy to deal with illegal immigration, claiming the UK was ‘creating concentration camps’ at home and in Rwanda.
Questioned by the District Judge, he admitted throwing the five eggs at the King and accusing him of being a ‘paedophile.’
He also admitted committing ‘low level violence.’
Thelwell denied a public order offence of using threatening, words or behaviour.
Sentencing is expected to take place later tody.
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