A JOGGING brute has been found guilty of shoving a pedestrian into a canal and then pushing a Good Samaritan who tried to help him during a rampage on his lunchtime run.
Samuel Flowers, 39, was running along the Regent’s Canal in east London when, unprovoked, he pushed Matthew Wallace into the water.
He then assaulted Tobias Palmer-Bee by pushing him after he stepped in to help.
Flowers, a coach driver who once worked for the RAF, has now been banned from going to any canal towpaths ahead of his sentencing next month.
Selma Michli, prosecuting, said: “Mr Wallace was also in the Regent’s Tow Path on the day in question. He will say he was pushed into the canal.
The prosecution added: “The push resulted in him being submerged in the canal.”
“It was witnessed by Mr Palmer-Bee who tried to stop the individual and was then pushed.”
Flowers was captured on CCTV on the towpath near Victoria Park in east London just after midday on May 4 this year, the court heard.
In the footage shown in court he can be seen jogging fast wearing blue with his hands on his hips and his elbows out.
While giving evidence Matthew Wallace, who was pushed into the canal, said: “My attention was turned to this runner.”
He added: “They were making a sort of grunting sound.”
As the jogger, who was paused when Mr Wallace first saw him, went to move again his victim moved out of the way so he could get passed.
Mr Wallace said: “I felt a blow to my right hand side. It was out of the corner of my eye.”
He added: “It was just the one hand.
“He then turned around his body and got both hands on my chest and proceeded to drive me back towards the canal.”
Mr Wallace added that when he fell, he hit the side of a canal boat. He also sustained bruising to his shoulder.
He said: “I was utterly confused. The first thing was to get myself out of the water.”
Tobias Palmer-Bee, a witness and victim of Flowers, spoke in court, he said: “We heard a woman scream or call out and looked in the direction of Victoria Park.
“I saw a man running. It became apparent someone had fallen into the canal.
“We did hear a splash as well.”
But, he told the court, when he attempted to stop Flowers by holding out his hand, the jogger ran straight into his arm, and then turned back to push him.
Flowers, who has no previous convictions, said: “I remember that witness, I remember his face, he assaulted me.”
And, when asked why he did not apologise to the people he had pushed, he said: “It is the opposite way around. When I try to move out of people’s way and they move into my path they should apologise to me.”
District Judge (Magistrates’ Courts) Gennaro Baffa, found Flowers guilty of assaulting both Mr Wallace and Mr Palmer-Bee.
He was found not guilty of assaulting two further pedestrians at the hearing at Stratford Magistrate’s Court.
The nightmare jogger was released on conditional bail ahead of his sentencing hearing on December 18, which will take place at 10am at Thames Magistrates Court.
