A photographer was assaulted by a defendant as he tried to take a snatch picture outside court.

Kevin Davies had just been fined and ordered to pay costs and compensation for causing unnecessary suffering to two dogs.

Derby Evening Telegraph photographer Marc Dewhurst had been waiting outside the magistrates’ court in Derwent Street, Derby for two hours when Davies (22) emerged with his hands over his face.

Mr Dewhurst (pictured) said Davies then ran at him – giving the photographer a clear view of his face – appeared to miss his footing and stood on Mr Dewhurst’s ankle. He tried to grab the camera but Mr Dewhurst pulled it back and Davies lunged at him, catching him in the ribs with his hand.

Mr Dewhurst (21) was not injured and is not taking the matter further. It was the first time in three years as a photographer that he had been assaulted but he said it had not put him off.

“It was a bit scary but it’s the job, isn’t it? I like doing court snatches. When people who have done things wrong get shown up for it, that’s what it’s all about.”

Telegraph chief photographer Stuart Wilde regards the incident as another sign of a worrying trend, for which he blames TV.

He echoed views published on the HoldTheFrontPage bulletin board recently about the portrayal of reporters and photographers in soaps such as Coronation Street and EastEnders. In one EastEnders episode, a reporter who was thrown out of the Old Vic while investigating an alleged sex assault on a 15-year-old girl then tried to interview the victim herself.

“Any professional knows you can’t do that,” Mr Wilde said.

“The public sit and watch Peggy Mitchell shouting ‘scum’ at a reporter and think it’s open season to have a go at the press.

“We all know we don’t act like that and there are certain rules you have to abide by. We know our jobs and how far we can go and yet we are portrayed as these heartless low-life.”

It’s not just the public who think they can “have a go” at the press, as Telegraph assistant chief photographer Martin Elliott discovered in the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death.

He and a reporter were on their way to a job in Derby when they came across the scene of an accident. Police and ambulance staff were there and a crowd had gathered. Martin was attempting to take a picture from the other side of the road when a police sergeant shouted: “You can’t do that.”

“I’m wondering ‘who’s he talking to?’, so he comes across the street and says: ‘You can’t take pictures here.’ So I said ‘I can’ and carried on, so he grabbed the camera off me and I grabbed it back and he said ‘right, you’re under arrest’ and started marching me towards the police car. There were people in the street shouting “press scum” and other people shouting ‘freedom of the press’ and this guy was nearly starting a riot.

“In the end, another officer came over and told him ‘you can’t do that’ and he said he was letting me go with a caution’. It was outrageous.”

Ironically, the belligerent officer had been pictured in the Telegraph that day, receiving a police commendation – and the photographer was Martin Elliott.

Keep us in the picture
E-mail us now

Back to the photography index