A man who was walking among cars on a main road and swung a petrol cannister at a motorcyclist was ‘foaming at the mouth’ and ‘like a rabid dog’, a court has heard.

Grzegorz Motowski, 46, of no fixed abode, also threw water in the face of a detention officer and was abusive to his former boss.

Motowski had pleaded not guilty to the four different charges he faced at an earlier hearing – but a judge rejected this and proved the offences at a trial in his absence.

The four offences he was convicted of were:

  • using threatening, abusive, or insulting words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm, or distress to Simon Allison on August 28 at Greysouthen;
  • common assault on Harry Baker in Cockermouth on August 24;
  • using threatening, abusive, or insulting words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm, or distress to Michelle Williamson on August 24 in Cockermouth;
  • assault by beating of an emergency worker, detention officer, Jacqueline Farish, on August 29.

Workington Magistrates’ Court heard that motorcyclist Harry Baker had been driving along Low Road in Cockermouth at about 5pm on August 24.

Mr Baker told the court: “I came up to the Laureates estate. I could see cars swerving in and out of the road. As I approached I slowed down.

“The gentleman was flailing around, dodging the cars. He was backing up towards me. I revved my bike to make my presence known.

“He turned round with a big plastic container and swung at me. I managed to dodge out on to the road and sped off.

“I was concerned about my motorbike, his safety and my safety because there were cars coming up and down.

“He was shouting and foaming at the mouth.

“I turned left into the Laureates. He was coming towards me again. I turned round and a car missed him by inches.”

Mr Baker had phoned the police and went to meet them at the nearby Aldi supermarket.

He said: “As I have driven down Low Road towards Cockermouth he has seen me again. He has tried to lunge over the fence. He looked like he was foaming at the mouth again.

“He chased me.”

Mr Baker got off his bike, ran into Aldi and asked for security. He then saw police arrive in the car park, the court was told.

He said: “I don’t know what he had in this container. He was going towards a highly populated area. The way he was being aggressive to everybody passing by, I was concerned about him being hit by a car.”

George Shelley, prosecuting, asked Mr Baker how he would describe Motowski’s behaviour.

Mr Baker replied: “Wild and aggressive.”

“I have never seen anything like it, outside of a film. It was like seeing a rabid dog.”

Linda Wilson, who was walking on Low Road at the time, said: “As I walked towards the A66, I turned to look back.

“I noticed this man standing in the middle of the road. He was shouting at the cars and had a plastic container in his hand that he was waving about.

“There was a motorcyclist coming from Cockermouth. He was waving the container to the motorcyclist who then pulled into the Laureates.

“The man was in the middle of the road then set off towards the motorcyclist.

“I phoned 101. I was a bit concerned for the man wandering up and down the road. I thought he was going to cause a crash.”

Michelle Williamson, who was walking from her home to Aldi, said: “Walking down Low Road, I saw a man coming towards me on the same side of the road. He was carrying a petrol canister.

“As he walked towards me I noticed he started grumbling noises. I couldn’t understand what he was saying or doing. He started flicking his tongue at me. He kind of growled and went to reach for me.

“When he did that I jumped into the road. Luckily, there were no cars coming. I started running past him. At that point I was a bit scared. I didn’t know what was happening. He looked quite unwashed so I was glad he didn’t touch me. I carried on running. I don’t know what his intentions were.”

Simon Allison, a dairy farmer in Greysouthen, who had employed Motowski, gave evidence for a different incident on August 28.

He said: “Grzegorz, who was not employed at the time, came into the milking parlour and asked to see me.

“A few weeks previous, he was trying to fix his car and put water in the engine. I tried to help him get it fixed.

“There had been a few conversations with police about how to move it off-site.

“The evening before, we heard he had been let out of custody and was making his way back to the farm.”

Mr Allison had put Motowski’s car on a trailer and moved it to another farm.

When Motowski arrived at the farm, Mr Allison told him that he had the car and would take it to wherever Motowski wanted, the court heard.

Mr Allison said: “He started getting aggressive, saying he wanted his car. I said ‘calm down’. I was making sure I wasn’t going to miss anything if he was going to try and assault me.”

He said he felt 'quite threatened' but was trying to 'remain calm'.

Motowski was arrested by police and taken into custody.

Jacqueline Farish, a detention officer at Workington Police Station, told the court: “He was in the cell when I was on shift. He had been throwing coffee under the door. We agreed to give him another. As soon as I gave him it, he threw it under the door.”

Ms Farish had then translated into Polish, ‘you will be getting no more coffee as you are wasting it’ on to a piece of paper, and showed him it through the hatch on the cell door.

She said: “I was looking in but waited for him to say something. The next thing I just get this water right in my face. I said I can’t open my eyes. I had no knowledge of what the liquid was.”

Passing sentence, District Judge John Temperley, said the most serious offence was the assault on Ms Farish.

He said: “The fear that it would have generated in Ms Farish, particularly at this time with Covid. I have no doubt that she was very fearful of what the consequences may be.”

Motowski was sentenced to 14 weeks in prison. He must also pay a £128 victim surcharge.