LONDON: A UK court on Wednesday handed a suspended prison sentence to a man who threw objects including a coffee cup at right-wing Brexit figurehead Nigel Farage during election campaigning.
Josh Greally, 28 – who threw a coffee cup and another object at Farage while he was campaigning in June – was sentenced to six weeks in prison suspended for 12 months.
He was also ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work by a district judge who said the offence was not serious enough for a jail term, but there was a "realistic prospect of rehabilitation."
The incident took place in Barnsley, northern England, when Farage, the leader of anti-immigration party Reform UK, was making a speech from the top deck of a bus.
Neither of the objects hit the hard-right politician, now the MP for Clacton in southeastern England.
The judge said Greally's target had been a politician campaigning "in our democratic country."
It was the second time during June's election campaign that Farage had objects thrown at him. He was doused with what appeared to be a banana milkshake during his campaign launch.
The 25-year-old woman accused denied the charges of assault by beating and criminal damage last month. Her trial is set for October 21.
He was previously "milkshake-d" during the 2019 European election when he was the leader of Reform's forerunner, the Brexit party.