By Tony O’Reilly-
Former Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, (pictured)was shoulder-barged and left “shaken up” by an anti-vaccination protester who accused him of murdering people during the coronavirus pandemic, a court has heard.
Geza Tarjanyi, 62, of Leyland in Lancashire has denied causing harassment without violence to the former health secretary, but stands accused of shouting “ridiculous conspiracy theories” on two separate occasions on 19 and 24 January.
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On the first occasion, close to Parliament, Mr Hancock was “accosted” by Tarjanyi, who made physical contact, aggressively questioned him and verbally abused him.
Nutan Fatania, prosecuting, said Mr Hancock passed an anti-vaccination protest before Tarjanyi filmed him, asked him why he had “killed so many people” and shoulder-barged him.
A few days later Tarjanyi followed Mr Hancock through Westminster underground station and onto a train where he again accused the MP of murdering people, it was alleged.
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Ms Fatania said: “Mr Hancock felt shaken up by both incidents and concerned for his personal safety.”
Appearing in person as a witness, 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.”
Mr Hancock went on: “It made me feel unsafe going about my place of work, it made me feel frustrated that instead of engaging in a normal debate, someone was trying to intimidate me, I thought that was unacceptable.”
He added: “I had a pretty good impression he had been taken over by these ridiculous conspiracy theories.”
A few days later, at around 8am, after Mr Hancock had had breakfast with the Prime Minister, Tarjanyi followed the MP through Westminster underground station and onto a train for around 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.
But he told the court that Tarjanyi began harassing “anybody who was going to come to my aid” and continued following him through the station.
Mr Hancock said he then 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
Matt Hancock
“It’s a long escalator, I could see a long escalator moving away from me, and I was being pushed from behind.
“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”.
He added: “One of the reasons I hadn’t reported the incident on January 19 was because I don’t want these people with these untrue beliefs to get further publicity from harassing me.”
” Parveen Mansoor, defending, said Tarjanyi denies any physical contact and believes it was Mr Hancock who “barged into him”.
She added: “He denies assaulting him in any way shape or form.”
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 eventually angered colleagues and constituents by flying to the Australian jungle to appear on I’m A Celebrity in November 2022.
He was later stripped of the Conservative whip over the appearance, he said he will not contest his seat at the next election when he will step down.
Complaints about his participation in the jungle to Ofcom were eventually dismissed on the grounds that his inclusion in the show was at the discretion of programme makers
However, a separate debate was sparked by some professionals who argued that the regulator ought to have taken into account the responsibility of programme makers not to endorse unethical conduct, given the subsequent findings that Hancock broke Parliamentary Codes of Conduct by participating in the show.
This aspect was discussed briefly with the regulator by The Eye Of Media.Com, with academics on this publication’s think tank preparing a report for further evaluation and potential submission for consideration.
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