Exeter Christmas market chaos after shopper squirted pepper-type spray into faces of security guards

Four members of the security team were left coughing and struggling to breathe

Security staff at Exeter Christmas market were left retching after a man squirted them in the face with a pepper-type spray. Samuel Oleksiewicz tried to escape after being taken to one side at the last year's festive market on Cathedral Green.

He used PAVA spray to incapacitate four members of the security team. It happened while hundreds of people were nearby enjoying the yuletide stalls.

Oleksiewicz, a 41-year-old from Poland, appeared at Exeter Crown Court where he admitted possessing a prohibited weapon and four charges of administering a poison or noxious substance. He was jailed for 12 months.

The offence happened on November 24. Security staff had detained Oleksiewicz due to allegations that were not charged, the court was told. He was taken him away from the crowds of shoppers and spoken to behind security fencing.

The court was played CCTV of him suddenly spraying several members of the security team who were surrounding him. Four of the staff caught some of the spray.

In a statement, one described feeling burning to the face and eyes. He feared initially it might be acid and could hear a colleague scream out. Officers were retching, struggling to breathe and coughing, the court was told.

Oleksiewicz was arrested by police at the scene and questioned. He remained mostly silent but said he was homeless and had found the spray. He regretted using it but thought it would not cause serious harm.

Zoe Kuyken, defending, said the defendant had been drinking. Oleksiewicz, who listened to proceedings with the help of an interpreter, has been in the UK for some time and lived in Hull before moving to Devon to work on a farm. But when the work dried up, he became homeless and spent time in Truro and Newquay. He said carrying such a weapon in Poland was not illegal.

Judge Stephen Climie said: "You were on the streets armed with a device capable of inflicting very serious injury, not least when used to anybody's face.

"It may be that in your home country of Poland that the carrying of such a device is not unlawful but you have been here for some years and it is not suggested you would not appreciated the illegality of such a device in the UK.

"You were street homeless at the time and may, have some do, chosen to have a weapon for your own protection. You came to the attention of security officers who were carrying out their duty to protect the public. What they were faced with was somebody heavily under the influence of alcohol who became aggressive.

"If people go out armed with whatever device it might be and use any weapon they will almost certainly go immediately to prison."

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