Chris Whitty assault: Man jailed for eight weeks over attack

A man has been jailed for eight weeks after he accosted Prof Sir Chris Whitty in a central London park.

Jonathan Chunk, 24, and Lewis Hughes, 24, approached England’s chief clinical officer in St James’s Park in June 2021.

Appearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court docket, Chunk, from Chelmsford, Essex, pleaded responsible to a cost of aspiring to trigger harassment, dread or misery.

Chunk became additionally given a two-week prison time length having pleaded responsible to wilful obstruction of a police officer, to proceed concurrently, and ordered to pay £1,058 in costs and compensation.

All over sentencing, district eradicate Paul Goldspring acknowledged Sir Chris had answered to “an unheard of disaster” for the length of the pandemic with “mountainous dignity and mountainous professionalism”, and became entitled to head about his day-to-day lifestyles.

“You had a main, I move as a long way as to express, an appalling legal file,” he instructed Chunk.

Mr Goldspring acknowledged he additionally wished to construct a “deterrent” to pause of us accosting these who raze now now not eradicate to be within the public survey.

He instructed the defendant – who answered to the costs announcement by asserting “that is peanuts” – he had been given fleshy credit rating for pleading responsible.

He additionally acknowledged he authorized that Chunk had now now not within the starting assign supposed to be hostile and understood he suffered from discovering out difficulties, psychological health points and autism.

While sentencing became taking assign, Mr Goldspring had to interrupt court cases to demand him to pause vaping.

“Your contempt for these court cases and this court dangle been breath-taking for the length of the route of,” the district eradicate acknowledged.

As Chunk became led out of the dock, he began to assert “West Ham ’til I die” loudly.

Prosecution barrister Iestyn Morgan earlier instructed the court Chunk started filming Sir Chris on his cellular phone whereas Hughes grabbed him in a headlock.

The pictures, lasting about 20 seconds, became extensively shared on social media and confirmed the pair jeering as Sir Chris attempted to interrupt away.

England’s chief clinical officer became now now not injured within the attack which came about on 27 June 2021.

The court became additionally instructed Chunk gave the title and stale deal with of his brother Aaron Chunk to PC Steven Ozden.

“This did trigger a waste of police sources,” Mr Morgan acknowledged.

He acknowledged police attended the deal with on 1 July to look a man referred to as Harry now lived on the property. Officers had been later ready to title that Jonathan Chunk became the suspect after he supplied comments about the incident to The Sun newspaper.

The court additionally heard Chunk had as a minimum 26 previous convictions including public direct offences.

Mr Morgan acknowledged the defendant had been on licence having been launched from custody in July 2020 and argued that this became an tense instruct.

Rabah Kherbane, defending, instructed the court Chunk had now now not been at an illustration but “became merely out with a buddy and it became ethical a possibility stumble upon”. He added that Sir Chris had now now not been centered for his views on the pandemic.

But Mr Morgan acknowledged prosecutors weren’t arguing that Sir Chris became centered thanks to his views, but “because he became any individual within the public survey” and he had suffered “the added humiliation of the recording being forwarded and uploaded”.

Mr Kherbane later acknowledged Chunk became “fully elated and smiley” within the video, exhibiting he became “of route excited” and became now now not aspiring to humiliate Sir Chris on the time.

He additionally instructed the court the 24-year-stale has rather a lot of prerequisites including consideration deficit hyperactivity dysfunction and autism which might well presumably create it complex for him to apply court cases.

Hughes, from Wigton Approach in Romford, east London, became sentenced in July 2021 to an eight-week suspended prison sentence and £100 beautiful.