A smartly-dressed man claimed ‘Boris lives underground’ and urged Russian president Vladimir Putin to ‘bomb’ England as he raved outside a Didcot Sainsbury’s, a court heard.

Daniel Matyi, 30, was overheard by one off-duty policeman to say: “Send me to the Ukraine. F*** England.” Another eyewitness feared the 30-year-old might be a 'terrorist'. 

Another officer, PC Daniel Mitchell, who arrested the Hungarian national on June 9 and loaded him into the back of a custody van, told Oxford Magistrates’ Court that at one point Matyi said ‘he hoped Putin bombs this country’.

Footage from the officer’s bodyworn video camera caught the defendant muttering: “Please, Putin, do it.”

The camera also captured the moment Matyi spat at the cage in the back of the Vauxhall Vivaro police van. The mousy-haired ranter told Mr Mitchell ‘what if I spit at you?’ before making the sound of hawking up phlegm. The officer pressed Matyi’s head to one side in an attempt to prevent him from spitting a second time, before he put a ‘spit hood’ over his prisoner.

Matyi, of Wessex Road, Didcot, had pleaded not guilty to allegations of common assault of the police officer, criminal damage of the van and two counts of disorderly behaviour.

He refused to leave his cell at HMP Bullingdon, where he was on remand, to attend Thursday’s trial at Oxford Magistrates’ Court.

The panel of three justices found him guilty of all four charges. He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on July 21.

The court heard how a woman spotted Matyi at around 8am on June 9 as she dropped-off her daughter in Wessex Road, Didcot. He was ‘waving his arms’ and she heard him say, in an ‘eastern European’ accent: “F*** England.”

Asked by prosecutor Charlotte Webster how that made her feel, the woman said: “It alarmed me quite a bit because it made me think was he a terrorist – someone who was going to harm people around him.” She parked up around the corner and reported the matter to police on 101.

At around 5.30pm the same day, Matyi was in Sainsbury’s car park when he was again seen raving about ‘England’. One eyewitness, who called 999, told the magistrates it had made her feel ‘very nervous [and] frightened’.

An off-duty policeman, PC Patrick Hayes, recorded the smartly-dressed defendant saying ‘f*** England, f*** you, Boris lives underground’ and exhorting his audience to send him to Hungary and Ukraine. He had been about to call the police when his colleagues arrived to arrest him.

  • A previous version of this article stated Matyi was sentenced to 12 weeks imprisonment. Although that sentence was passed by the magistrates after they convicted the defendant on all charges, the Oxford Mail has since been informed the justices later revoked their sentence and adjourned the case to Thursday, July 21, when Matyi is expected to attend court. We are happy to provide this clarification.

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward