Man pleads guilty to assaulting Professor Chris Whitty in London
30 July 2021, 15:15 | Updated: 30 July 2021, 16:34
A 24-year-old man has pleaded guilty to assaulting Professor Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer.
Lewis Hughes, of Wigton Way, Romford, pleaded guilty to assault at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday.
He was sentenced to eight weeks in prison suspended for two years and ordered to pay £100 in compensation.
His guilty plea comes after England's chief medical officer Prof Whitty was accosted in St James's Park in central London on June 27, with video footage emerging of the incident.
Read more: Man charged with common assault after Chris Whitty accosted in London
The footage, lasting around 20 seconds, was shared on social media.
A second man, Jonathan Chew, 24, denied charges relating to the incident in St James's Park in central London.
Kalsoom Shah, from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said Lewis Hughes showed "little regard" for Prof Whitty or social distancing rules "when he accosted the government's chief medical officer in the street".
"His behaviour was both shocking and disgraceful."
