Man guilty of harassing Matt Hancock on the Underground

An anti-vaccine protester has been found guilty of harassing Matt Hancock on the London Underground.

62-year-old Geza Tarjanyi, from Leyland in Lancashire, shoulder-barged the former health secretary and shouted on two separate occasions in January.

He's been ordered not to approach or contact the MP for three years, given an eight-week prison sentence suspended for two years and must complete 200 hours of unpaid work and pay costs of £930 plus a surcharge of £128.

The judge at Westminster Magistrates' Court said Tarjanyi "deliberately intimidated and harassed" the MP with the former Health Secretary saying he feared being pushed down an escalator by Tarjanyi on one occasion.

Mr Hancock previously told a trial at Westminster Magistrates' Court:

"As a public figure, I can't recall a time when I felt as intimidated as this."

On the first occasion, Mr Hancock, along with a member of his staff, passed an anti-vaccination protest near Parliament, before Tarjanyi filmed him, asked him why he had "killed so many people" and shoulder-barged him during a five-minute interaction.

"I can't recall a time when I felt as intimidated as this"

Appearing in person as a witness in June, the MP told the court:

"I felt physically intimidated and felt like I needed to get to a place of safety, he was being completely unreasonable.

"I didn't know what further unreasonable actions he would take."

The second incident occurred at about 8am on January 24th when Tarjanyi followed the MP through Westminster Underground station and onto a train for about 10 minutes, again accusing him of murdering people.

Mr Hancock said he recognised the defendant and felt "more intimidated" because he was on his own and tried to get Transport for London (TfL) staff to intervene.

Mr Hancock said he stopped at the top of an escalator to "resolve the situation" but felt the defendant pushing him towards it.

He said: "Obviously, I was extremely worried at this time. If I had lost my balance at that point, I would have tumbled down the escalator.

"I had to work to maintain my balance and stop myself falling down the escalator."

The former health secretary feared Tarjanyi was willing to commit a crime, alleging the defendant had told him he "wanted to go to court".

Tarjanyi then got onto the Jubilee Line train with Mr Hancock and accused him of murdering "millions of people" before they were separated at Bond Street station.

The defendant's mobile phone footage of the second incident, played to the court, showed him calling Mr Hancock a "murderous scumbag" and saying lockdown amounted to the harassment of the country due to his "lies and deceit".

Tarjanyi denied the charge of harassment without violence and described the claims as "laughable".

When asked if he followed Mr Hancock, Tarjanyi repeatedly denied it and told the court he was "interviewing him".

Tarjanyi was found guilty by senior district judge Paul Goldspring who said;

"The defendant's behaviour was oppressive.

"He deliberately intimidated and harassed Mr Hancock.

"The defendant did bump into Mr Hancock, deliberately so.

"He wanted a day in court to question Mr Hancock."

Mr Hancock, 44, was health secretary when the coronavirus pandemic struck and was a key figure in the lockdown restrictions and vaccine rollout that followed.

He resigned after leaked CCTV images showed him kissing an adviser in his office, in breach of his own social-distancing guidance.

Mr Hancock later angered colleagues and constituents by flying to the Australian jungle to appear on I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here! in November 2022.

In a statement Mr Hancock said he was relieved at the guilty verdict.

"We in the UK pride ourselves as a global symbol of democracy, built around respectful debate to build a more inclusive and harmonious society. Violence against anyone for their political beliefs is unacceptable.

"I would like to thank the CPS, Transport for London and the British Transport Police who have been fantastic throughout."

First for all the latest news from across the UK every hour on Hits Radio on DAB, at hitsradio.co.uk and on the Rayo app.