A man who filmed himself verbally abusing Workington MP Mark Jenkinson before posting the footage on Snapchat has been sentenced for what magistrates called disgusting behaviour.
Mr Jenkinson was inside Seaton’s One Stop shop at 9.10pm on April 30 when he encountered Jonathon Penrice, who had been drinking since just after noon.
As other people were in the store, 27-year-old Penrice delivered a foul-mouthed outburst while filming on his phone as Mr Jenkinson — who was only feet away — held a coffee and told the abuser to “wind his neck in”.
“All yous (sic) do is rip the poor off,” said Penrice, who peppered his repeated use of the word Tory with expletives.
Penrice later uploaded the video to a private Snapchat story and while still drunk left an rude reply — later deleted — to a post by Mr Jenkinson about the incident on Twitter.
Describing the impact, Mr Jenkinson had said: “The incident has left me quite shaken and worried about what could happen the next time I bumped into the male.
“I feel this is beyond what any reasonable person should expect to [encounter] in public, and I’m grateful that my children had stayed in the car and didn’t witness this.”
Penrice, of Clarendon Drive, Whitehaven, admitted a public order charge when he appeared at West Cumbria’s magistrates court today.
Sean Harkin, defending, said the defendant was thoroughly ashamed of himself. “It is aggravated by the fact that the victim is an MP and he is entitled to go about his business without that kind of abuse,” said his lawyer.
Penrice — a man of previous good character — was made subject to a 12-month community and must complete 80 hours’ unpaid work.
Lead magistrate Charlotte Wood told the defendant she was disgusted with his criminal conduct. “This is just totally unacceptable,” she said.
