He was one of two men that accosted Whitty as he walked through St James’ Park
One of the men who harassed and grabbed Chris Whitty in the street earlier this week has been sacked from his job as an estate agent following the video being circulated and condemned online.
Lewis Hughes, 24 from Romford, Essex, revealed that he had lost his job as a result of his actions and apologised for making the Chief Medical Officer feel “uncomfortable”.
Footage has emerged of Professor Chris Whitty being manhandled by two men in the street.
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Hughes said that he and his friend – identified as Jonathan Chew (also 24) – only wanted a selfie. Hmm. Presumably just to show their mates as a bit of a joke amongst mates, we imagine.
Word of advice, lads, putting your quite obviously disingenuous intentions aside, grabbing a person in the street probably isn’t a good start – it’s basically just harassment and could be considered assault.
The pair went on to tell the paper that “There was no malicious intent, I didn’t want to upset him.”, adding that “We didn’t cause any harm to him. We just wanted a selfie.”
Hughes went on to say: “He [Chris Whitty] is quite a timid, shy person and I think that is why he didn’t say, ‘Get off me’.” – he made it pretty obvious by trying to wriggle out of your grasp, to be fair. He added: “If he had said that and I had realised how he felt, I wouldn’t have put my arm round him.” Really is schoolboy speaking to the head of year stuff this.
While Whitty himself has not commented on the incident, the Prime Minister said he was “shocked at seeing the despicable harassment” and, condemning the behaviour and reiterating that “[o]ur hard-working public servants should not have to face this kind of intimidation on our streets and we will not tolerate it.”
The Metropolitan police confirmed that officers spoke to Whitty after the incident and did not make any allegations or want to press any form of charges. The statement says that “Police remain in contact with the alleged victim. The incident has been recorded as a common assault and continues to be investigated by the Met’s public order crime team.”
