Remainer pleads guilty to assaulting Nigel Farage by throwing £5.25 Five Guys milkshake over him during Euro election campaigning in Newcastle
- Paul Crowther, 32, admitted common assault against Nigel Farage in court today
- Remainer threw a £5.25 Five Guys milkshake at Brexit Party leader in Newcastle
- Crowther also pleaded guilty to criminal damage over a microphone
- Judge told him he would not be jailed but must carry out unpaid work
Paul Crowther, 32, pictured, has admitted common assault after throwing a milkshake at Nigel Farage last month
A Remainer protester who pelted Nigel Farage with a milkshake during a city centre campaign visit has admitted assaulting the Brexit Party leader today.
The politician’s suit was left covered in the £5.25 banana and salted caramel Five Guys drink during an event in Newcastle ahead of last month’s European elections.
Paul Crowther, 32, who was arrested at the scene after being filmed dousing Mr Farage with the milkshake, told journalists the act was ‘a right of protest against people like him’.
Speaking at the time he said: ‘The bile and the racism he spouts out in this country is far more damaging than a bit of milkshake to his front.’
Today Crowther, of Throckley, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, appeared at North Tyneside Magistrates’ Court and admitted common assault and criminal damage which related to a microphone damaged during the incident on May 20.
District Judge Bernard Begley said Crowther will not be jailed but must carry out unpaid work.
He adjourned sentence while the defendant was interviewed by the Probation Service.
Footage of the ‘milkshaking’ showed Crowther, who had close-cropped hair, glasses and was wearing a Street Fighter 2 T-shirt, loitering in the background before whipping off the lid of his milkshake and hurling it at the Brexit Party leader’s midriff.
In the immediate aftermath, Mr Farage was heard telling a member of security staff that he ‘could have spotted that a mile off’.
Crowther threw a Five Guys milkshake over Mr Farage in Newcastle last month. The Brexit Party leader is pictured in the aftermath with an associate
Later that day, the Brexit Party leader said: ‘I won’t even acknowledge the low-grade behaviour that I was subjected to this morning, I won’t dignify it, I will ignore it.
‘Perhaps keep buying new clothes and carry on.’
He also tweeted afterwards blaming the incident on Remainers becoming ‘radicalised’.
The attack was condemned by other politicians including Brexit minister James Cleverly immediately condemned the episode, insisting that people should debate rather than ‘assault political opponents’.
Tony Blair branded the attack ‘horrible and ridiculous’, while Jo Cox’s widower Brendan Cox said it normalised ‘violence and intimidation’.
Downing Street said politicians had to be able to ‘campaign without harassment, intimidation and abuse’.
Mr Farage joins the list of candidates who have fallen victim to a ‘milkshaking’, including Ukip’s Carl Benjamin and ex-English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson.
Mr Crowther’s social media profiles revealed he has previously criticised Mr Farage and posted a link to a previous milkshake incident involving Mr Benjamin.
Crowther, pictured outside court today, said in the aftermath of the incident it was a ‘right of protest against people like him [Farage]’
Farage, pictured after the attack, was heard telling security staff he ‘could have spotted that a mile off’
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