The Waitrose in Kings Road, Chelsea, where the assault is alleged to have taken place (Picture: Google Street View)

A Frenchman is alleged to have tried to steal some Camembert then hurled it at Waitrose staff when they caught him.

Bernard Conche is on trial for assault following the incident in the supermarkets branch on Kings Road, Chelsea, in November.

Budget 2016: The winners and losersThe court heard that he’d been banned from the store previously but was seen taking boxes of the cheese.

He was approached by duty manager Kimberley Taynor and then reached for the cheese.


Miss Taynor told the court: ‘At that point he had three blocks of cheese in his trolley and he picked those up and threw them at me.

Manager Kimberley Taynor approached Conche in the supermarket (Picture: Central)

‘They sort of came towards me and I managed to catch them.’



Budget 2016: £110 million to be spent on tackling homelessnessShe added: ‘Whatever he was saying was a different language, it was very mumbled, it made no sense.’

Security guard Shah Nawaz intervened, but Conche is alleged to have kicked him in the stomach and started spinning his trolley around in front of shocked shoppers.

Miss Taynor was injured as Conche lifted his trolley in the air and slammed it down on her right ankle.

Security guard Shah Nawaz intervened (Picture: Central News)

Three members of staff managed to drag Conche into an office and kicked PC Jonathon Stanley in the chest as officers tried to put him in the police van.

Baboon is totally blown away by magic trickConche did not appear in the dock of Hammersmith magistrates’ court but was spotted lurking nearby in Wellington boots and a fisherman’s hat.

The trial proceeded in his absence after he disappeared.

He denies two counts of assault by beating and one count of assaulting an officer in the course of his duty.

The trial continues