Boat Race Swimmer Guilty Of 'Nuisance' Charge

The man who swam into the path of crews during this year's boat race has been found guilty of causing a public nuisance.

Trenton Oldfield, 36, halted the annual race between Oxford and Cambridge universities on April 7 this year.

Speaking to reporters outside London's Isleworth Crown Court, he said: "As inequalities increase in Britain and much of the world, so does the criminalisation of protest.

"My solidarity is with everyone working towards more equitable societies everywhere."

Judge Anne Molyneux said all options were open to the court, including jail, when he is sentenced on October 19.

"Mr Oldfield has accepted that he disrupted the boat race," she said.

The court heard that Oldfield, an Australian who moved to the UK in 2001, decided to make the protest after learning of Government plans to "sell off" the NHS and "snoop" on electronic communications, and after hearing encouragement given to "dob in" people planning protests during the Olympics.

During the hearing he told the court that his protest was "a symbolic gesture".

"It's a symbol of a lot of issues in Britain around class, 70% of Government pushing through very significant cuts are Oxford or Cambridge graduates," he said.

Oldfield, of Myrdle Street, east London, stopped the annual contest for around half an hour - the first time in the history of the 158-year event that it had been disrupted by a bather.

Prosecutor Louis Mably told jurors the race was spoiled for hundreds of thousands of spectators watching from the banks of the river or live on television, not to mention the two university rowing teams.