Man 'screamed abuse' at Usain Bolt and hurled bottle before 100m final

Ashley Gill-Webb, 34, is accused of pushing his way to the front of an exclusive seating area without a ticket and shouting abuse at the Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt (Getty Images/AFP)

A former trainee teacher used an out-of-date ticket to trick his way into the London 2012 men’s 100m finals where he screamed abuse at Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt before hurling a bottle onto the startline, a court heard.

Andy Gill-Webb, from South Milford, near Leeds, is said to have waved an expired ticket in front of security guards to enter the Olympic Park.

He then repeated the stunt to gain access into the main stadium, where he “mingled” with members of the Dutch Olympic team and entered a trackside enclosure where he taunted Usain Bolt.

The court heard that Mr Gill-Webb shouted to Bolt: “Usain I want you to lose, Usain you are bad, you are an arsehole”. He then threw the plastic Heineken bottle, which landed behind the Jamaican star shortly before he went on to win the event.

Gill-Webb, 34, was confronted by Dutch judoka Edith Bosch, then restrained by Locog volunteers and arrested.

In a revelation that raises questions about the thoroughness of Olympic security, the court heard how Mr Gill-Webb “passed through several steps waving an old ticket in front of people”.

Defence psychiatrist Dr Robert Adams, told the court that Gill-Webb had not expected to get as far as he did. “He got into the Olympic Park and was in the Olympic Park for quite a while, and then he thought ‘I have got into the Olympic Park, maybe I can get into the stadium’.” he said.

Robert Spears, a security guard who helped bundle the defendant out of the stadium, said he feared the 100m result might have been voided by the incident. Mr Spears added: “At no time did the man try to explain himself, but he demanded to know who had won the race.”

Rhiannon Crimmins, defending, said a psychiatrist had diagnosed Mr Gill-Webb as having bipolar affective disorder following the incident. “He was neither capable of intending it or aware of the disruption it would cause,” she said.

The court heard how, upon arrest, Gill-Webb claimed to be the James Bond actor Alan Cumming and signed a police statement “AJ Cumming”.

Gill-Webb’s lawyers claim he was suffering from a manic episode at the time and could not form an intention to cause harassment, alarm or distress. But the Crown says that although he was unwell at the time, he knew what he was doing and was able to “form an intention”.

The incident was one of the few disruptions of last summer’s Olympics that saw just nine people arrested at Games venues during the entire competition.

Gill Webb denies intending to cause 100m finalists harassment, alarm or distress by using threatening, abusive or disorderly behaviour, thereby causing spectators present at the Olympic Park harassment, alarm or distress, contrary to Section 4(a) of the Public Order Act 1986.

He also denies an alternative charge of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour or disorderly behaviour within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress, contrary to Section 5 of the act.

Mr Gill-Webb received psychiatric treatment at Bootham Park Hospital in York after being sectioned under the Mental Health Act following the incident. He was released from hospital on Sep 7.

Dr Adams, who cared for Gill-Webb at the hospital, said he was put in seclusion due to his erratic behaviour on the ward, and at one point he had to be removed by police to protect other patients.

‘There is also no evidence he thought of the consequences of his actions in the police station and in the psychiatric ward’, he said. The hearing continues.