Six week jail 'too severe'

Jonnie Marbles has launched an appeal against his six-week jail term for throwing a shaving cream pie at Rupert Murdoch.

The occasional comic’s legal team claim the punishment handed down by district judge Daphne Wickham yesterday was too severe, even though she said he would only serve three weeks in jail.

The 26-year-old, whose real name is Jonathan May-Bowles, admitted assaulting the 80-year-old media tycoon at Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee last month.

His lawyer Tim Greaves told the court: ‘Slapstick and throwing pies dates back to the 1900s as a recognised form of protest. He intended to express how he was feeling and how he believed the British public were feeling, and he sought to do that in the least harmful way he could.’

However the judge condemned his actions, saying the evidence Mr Murdoch was giving was ‘of huge importance’ to many people.

Published: 3 Aug 2011