Thug who kicked and punched female Asda worker unconscious jailed

Thug Josh McDonald, 32, who kicked and punched female Asda worker unconscious while dressed as Spiderman is jailed for six years and will be monitored after jail as he is a ‘danger to the public’

• McDonald was part of a gang of brazen internet pranksters who stormed Asda
• Dressed as fantasy characters, they then attacked Adsa staff in July 2021 

A gang of brazen internet ‘pranksters’ who were filmed storming an Asda dressed as fantasy characters before attacking staff were jailed yesterday.

The mob – some of whom were dressed as Spiderman, Ali G and Little Red Riding Hood – were filmed storming the supermarket branch in Clapham Junction, south west London, in July 2021.

Kick-boxing teacher and champion Josh McDonald, 32, was videoed, dressed as Spider-Man, kicking and punching female Asda worker Lauren Scott unconscious during the incident.

And George O’Boyle, 30, was videoed dressed as television comedy character Ali G while punching a manager of the store in the face up to 15 times.

Both, each of them a father of two, were yesterday jailed after admitting assault occasioning Actual Bodily Harm, and violent disorder.

Pictured: George O’Boyle (left) and Josh McDonald (right), have been jailed for storming an Asda dressed as fantasy characters before attacking staff

Pictured is Josh McDonald kicking Lauren Scott out cold in Asda in Clapham Junction, London

McDonald also admitted wounding with intent in an unrelated incident in which his smashed a glass over a man’s head – in Northampton town centre in daylight – then carefully slashed him with a shard he picked up from the ground.

McDonald, of Northampton, was jailed for six years six months, and will be monitored for a further three years six months because he is considered a danger to the public, ‘with problematic attitudes to masculinity’.

O’Boyle, of Surbiton, who had told his followers online ‘supermarkets are my playground’ was jailed for two years two months for being ‘a leader of the mayhem’.

His barrister Kerry Moore told the court in mitigation that the Asda riot was ‘an inconsiderate, juvenile, idiotic stunt, the aim to jokingly throw a party in the aisles that night’ that got out of hand.

Sophie Roberts, 20, who was dressed as ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ and is an unemployed mother of two from Northampton, and McDonald’s step-daughter, is to be sentenced next month for hitting Miss Scott in the face, and threatening behaviour.

‘Fake-disabled Andy from TV’s Little Britain’, Wheelchair-user one-legged Rikki McKenzie, 36, of Northampton, further identifiable in store by a long blonde wig, was given a suspended sentence for threatening behaviour.

The court heard he had used his wheelchair as a weapon before frustrated staff beat him with bags of ice and pulled him to the floor.

‘Army man’ Mark Pettigrew, 38, from west London, was last month given a community sentence for public disorder.

Ms Scott was punched in the face by trained kickboxer Sophie Roberts (pictured), 19, who was dressed as Little Red Riding Hood 

Sophie Roberts (pictured) dressed as Little Red Riding Hood. She is to be sentenced next month for hitting Miss Scott in the face

O’Boyle had staged the event for his tens of thousands of followers online on TikTok and Instagram, and a whole mob turned up, including many in fancy dress.

A large number of the group were videoing the store invasion and live-streaming it straight on to the internet.

O’Boyle’s barrister Kerry Moore insisted at Kingston crown court that he had simply planned ‘to have some fun for social media entertainment’.

But the multiple videos of the frightening invasion at the large Asda at Clapham Junction in south London late on an evening in July 2021 made the truth clear.

Violence was threatened from the moment the mob entered the shop, with unemployed O’Boyle pressing his fist close to a frightened security guard’s face

The group entered storeroom closed to the public, and violent mayhem ensued, with Spider-Man battering several members of staff with a metal crutch until it bent – while Ali G repeatedly pummelled a manager’s face.

Outside the store room, McDonald’s step-daughter Sophie Roberts, 19, dressed as Little Red Riding Hood, had hit Miss Scott in the face and was in a tussle with her when the kick boxing champion strode over.

Without pause he kicked and punched the Asda worker unconscious, leaving her with a fractured eye socket.

Jailing the ring-leaders, who arrived at Asda in a stretch limousine, Judge Mark Bryant-Heron told ‘Spider-Man’ McDonald: ‘You completely lost control, and attacked a woman, a member of staff in her workplace, and hit her in the face and drop-kicked her to the floor as she retreated from you.’

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