Olympics bottle thrower found guilty
A MAN who threw a plastic beer bottle at Usain Bolt at the start of the men’s 100-metres final at the London Olympics was convicted yesterday of two charges of causing harassment, alarm or distress, after a two-day trial at Stratford Magistrates’ Court in East London.
Ashley Gill- Webb, 34, evaded security to enter VIP seats reserved for athletes – despite not having a ticket – and shouted abuse at the world’s fastest man for three minutes before throwing the bottle. He was arrested after being tackled by Edith Bosch, a Dutch judo star who won a bronze medal at the Games.
Gill-Webb, from South Milford, Leeds, told police he was the actor Alan Cumming and suggested that the bottle had been thrown by a member of the Dutch Olympic squad. He was sectioned at a psychiatric hospital and was subsequently found to have a bipolar affective disorder, also known as manic depression.
The court was told that GillWebb was suffering a ‘‘manic epi- sode’’ when he used an old ticket to get into the Olympic Park and the stadium. He pushed to the front of seating reserved for the Dutch Olympic squad, just behind the starting blocks, and shouted abuse at Bolt and other runners.
Neil King, for the prosecution, said that video footage of the incident showed Gill- Webb looking left and right before moving behind a group of Dutch supporters and lobbing his beer bottle. His caution proved that he knew that what he was doing was wrong, King said.
District Judge William Ashworth agreed. He said: ‘‘I am sure at that point he was acting rationally and wrongly.’’ He said Gill- Webb would receive a community sentence at worst when he returns to court on February 4.
Bolt said at the time that he was unaware of the incident. He won in 9.63 seconds – an Olympic record – in front of 80,000 spectators in the stadium and hundreds of millions on television around the world.