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A presenter on Rupert Murdoch’s Talk station, who also operates as a pro-Trump YouTube pundit, appeared before Reading Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, after being charged with assault against a climate activist.
The case revolves around an incident at the Republicans Overseas gala dinner at Windsor Guildhall on 16 September 2025, during Donald Trump’s state visit, after which Thames Valley Police charged co-organiser André Walker, 47, of Hatch Lane, Windsor, on 25 February with assault by beating.
Walker has presented dozens of shows on Talk since then and the channel’s owner – the Murdoch-owned News UK – has failed to respond to requests for comment.
The alleged assault was against Fossil Free London activist and medical doctor Dr Kush Naker.
Judgment has been withheld until 13 August, with Mr Walker released on unconditional bail. Byline Times was the first to cover the incident and the trial.
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Addressing the court, Ms Chung for the prosecution noted Mr Walker has published YouTube videos commenting on the case and suggesting he would bring a private prosecution against the police officer involved: “The defendant has published various forms of media content. Specifically videos on his YouTube channel, discussing the case, discussing the officer of the case, the investigations”. Mr Walker interrupted to claim: “That’s not true”.
In one video shown in court, Mr Walker says: “Thames Valley Police did not like the fact that I defended the state visit of President Donald Trump against a terrorist attack and are doing me for assault.”
Mr Walker has claimed in videos that one of Trump’s lawyers flew over to help pick his legal team, selecting Daniel Burke – apparently “paid by Elon Musk” – to work for Tommy Robinson’s cases – and Sir Robert Buckland KBE KC, the former Lord Chancellor and Conservative Justice Secretary, funded by donations to his “Patriot Fund”: “We’ve spent it hiring…the right honourable Sir Robert Buckland KBE KC”.
Mr Walker’s defence noted the incident was initially treated as a public order case – the suggestion being police were called to deal with the protestors. That characterisation was disputed by the prosecution, Dr Naker and a Guildhall witness. The assault allegation followed a fresh complaint on 20 September 2025.
Dr Naker’s Evidence
Dr Naker, a climate campaigner and NHS doctor, gave evidence first. Tickets to the dinner, which Mr Walker helped organise, were sold publicly. He and Fossil Free London’s Robin Wells bought tickets, and during the dinner, walked to the front of the room, where Ms Wells gave a speech on the climate crisis. Dr Naker joined her, holding a banner reading “Oily Money Kills” and chanting. Asked whether there was any intention of escalating into violence, he said “No”.
Dr Naker, who did not know who Mr Walker was at the time, told the court: “[André] Walker came up and grabbed me by the arm, and I fell to the ground…They dragged me out of the room, through the lobby area, and across into a second room, then closed the door behind them”.
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In that room, he said, “I was on the ground…André Walker ended up being on top of me, essentially kneeling over me…He started trying to punch me and strangle me”. He grabbed Mr Walker’s wrists: “He was trying to apply force…trying to strangle as well as punch…I was trying to resist him”. Mr Walker also tried to “knee me in the groin”, he said. Mr Walker denies all of it.
The struggle lasted a minute to a minute and a half, according to Dr Naker; a witness put it closer to five. Mr Walker then told him: “I’m almost 50, what are you doing?” Dr Naker left via an external staircase with minor injuries: “The left side of my jaw was sore…I had some blood on my shirt.” Mr Walker contacted Fossil Free London straight afterwards asking for someone to come on his Talk show, and was rebuffed.
Prosecuting lawyer Ms Chung played footage of Mr Walker dragging Dr Naker out of the dining hall. In video recorded afterwards, Dr Naker tells Mr Walker “You tried your f*cking best to kick me in the balls”, with Mr Walker responding “I’m nearly 50…I’m exhausted…I’m nearly 50 for goodness sake”. Dr Naker said he expected security to ask him to leave, not to be “dragged out and assaulted”.
Sir Robert Buckland KC disputed that his client had targeted Dr Naker because of his race (Dr Naker is Asian), as had been suggested shortly after the incident. Mr Walker has claimed in videos the protest was a “terrorist attack”.
Sir Robert suggested Dr Naker fell to the ground and made himself heavy to be harder to remove, which Dr Naker rejected. He said Dr Naker had used “subterfuge” and “deception” to get in, and accused him of being a “professional protestor”. Dr Naker replied: “It’s not my job.”
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The former justice secretary claimed Mr Walker was trying to stop Dr Naker returning to the dining hall. Dr Naker responded: “He got on top of me…I wasn’t at that point getting up”, adding: “If he was trying to get me out of the venue, he could have led me to the exit…He dragged me into another room.”
On the struggle, Dr Naker said: “Every time that he tried to punch me or kick me, after a few seconds I relaxed…He then tried to punch and kick me again.” Sir Robert replied: “That’s wrong, isn’t it?”. Dr Naker said: “I was there.” Put to him directly – “You are saying that Mr Walker dragged you into another room to assault you?” – Dr Naker said yes. Sir Robert: “That’s not true is it.”
Sir Robert suggested Mr Walker was pinning him down to stop him damaging artwork, and that protestors disrupt such events because they value human lives above art. Dr Naker replied: “Yes I do believe that human lives are more important than artwork.”
Sir Robert said Dr Naker had taken a long time to report the incident as assault – the doctor replied that it was “four days” – and had done so because he enjoyed the coverage. He also suggested Dr Naker was pursuing the case because “You see [Mr Walker’s] media appearances…and he’s someone you actively don’t like”. Dr Naker disagreed.
Wells and the Guildhall Witness
Ms Wells said she stood up and began a speech. Attendees initially thought she was pro-Trump, before she began saying the US President’s climate policies would kill millions. Of Dr Naker being dragged along the ground: “I felt concerned for him as he was clearly being held in a position which hurt him”. She was escorted out standing, to a nearer exit.
Footage exists because press were present to interview Republicans during the state visit. A journalist later sent Ms Wells some video, now used as evidence. The court also saw Mr Walker’s posts afterwards, including a pinned one: “My speech at the #Trump dinner last night in #Windsor. I did this after I threw the terrorists out!”
In a direct message on X to Fossil Free London after the incident, he wrote: “I dragged your guy out of the Windsor Dinner. I really think you ought to come on my show and make his point properly. Can you contact me about this.”
Mr Walker also called the Fossil Free London press number the next day, Ms Wells said. The climate activist replied: “I think assaulting us is not a great invitation to your show – we’re not interested.” On getting in: “They didn’t even ask us for our tickets”. The phone call was short, Ms Wells said, as Mr Walker was shouting, something his defence disputed.
A witness working at the Guildhall described the dragging as “violent”: “I saw Kush on the floor and André on top of him…André had his knees on [Naker’s] body…He had his fist held in the air…He was shouting…[Mr Walker] said ‘I f*cking hate you, why are you doing this to me now?’”
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She said she “went into shock”, and that Mr Walker was “moving his fist” towards Naker’s face: “André managed to pin him down again, [his arm] was getting really close to his neck.”
“It was frightening…I said let him out of the fire escape and out of the building…[Mr Walker] just kept shouting.” She fetched four nearby officers, Windsor being full of police during the state visit. Afterwards, she claimed, Mr Walker “joked about it [and] said it would be good for publicity.”
Sir Robert suggested she had called police over the protest rather than over Mr Walker. But she said she called them over the “altercation”, and had not even heard the protest. Told she had asked Dr Naker to leave or she would call police, she replied: “No, all my comments were directed at Walker”.
In one video shown to the court, Mr Walker tells his audience: “I had to have a fight with some of the protestors”. Another shows him re-enacting the removal into a separate room, adding, smiling: “There was no cameras at one point”. Elsewhere: “When the cameras came in, I had to throw him out through this door”, and “These lefties…are bad people”.
Walker’s Evidence and Closing Arguments
Asked whether he had any previous convictions or “anything reported against you”, Mr Walker said “No”. Sir Robert noted “There wasn’t much security if any”. Mr Walker said: “It never crossed my mind we’d have to bring in security”, and that he had “two glasses of champagne…but it was a work night”. The protestors “looked like the kind of mob” who protested inside News UK, he said, citing Just Stop Oil paint attacks.
Mr Walker claimed Dr Naker “flopped himself on the floor” rather than being pulled down. Sir Robert put to him: “It took two of you to drag Dr Naker out…you dragged him into the Mayor’s Parlour” – the room in which, in a video, Mr Walker gave a thumbs-up while noting there was no CCTV. The second man was “a man called Jack…from an organisation called Turning Point UK”.
Mr Walker denied trying to punch Dr Naker in the face, putting his hands “on or near” the activist’s neck, or trying to knee him in the groin. He claimed Guildhall staff asked Dr Naker if he would leave or if they needed to call police, which the witness denied.
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Raising his voice, he said: “I was extremely concerned they were about to start attacking valuable artwork”, adding “I wasn’t able to analyse precisely how dangerous they would be.” The prosecution noted the room he dragged Dr Naker into was itself full of artwork. On pinning him down: “I was frustrated…he was still shouting in my face”, and “It was very clear my motivation was to protect the artwork in the building”. The prosecution pointed to a video in which he admitted he was “angry”.
At one point Judge DJ Pankhania told Mr Walker to answer the questions, asking: “Do you want some water? Do you need a moment?”
Of his social media output under question, Mr Walker claimed he engages in “bravado” and “crass jokes”, and: “I just say whatever comes into my head at the time.” He denied dragging Dr Naker to a side room in order to assault him. Three character references were submitted, one from someone in Ukraine whom Mr Walker apparently helped: “He is not a horrendous thug…Walker has a great sense of duty and is a hero to us.”
Prosecutor Ms Chung said Mr Walker’s use of force was “unreasonable and therefore unlawful”, noting he dragged Dr Naker past an exit into a room with no cameras, closed the door, and there “kneeled on Dr Naker” and “attempted to punch him and knee him”.
If his motivation was protecting artwork, she asked, why drag him into another room full of artwork? She pointed to his description of protestors as “bad people” and his admission that he was “angry”, and noted the Guildhall witness was “frightened” of Mr Walker and called police because of him.
For the defence, Sir Robert said the lack of security was “naïve”, but that “The defendant genuinely believed the use of force…was reasonable”, asking: “Was the force used in proportion to the threat?…It can be mistaken as long as it was genuinely held.”
He accepted some of Mr Walker’s monologues were “crass” and “make him appear foolish”, but argued they were irrelevant. The judge questioned why dragging Dr Naker out of the dining room could not legally be construed as assault.
On the absence of CCTV in the side-room, the Mayor’s Parlour, Sir Robert said it did not undermine Mr Walker’s account, and that “The absence of physical injury is support for the case he did not use disproportionate force”. His client “admits having very close physical contact with this man…Yes, it’s suggested he was angry”, but Mr Walker’s defence claimed it did not meet the threshold for assault.
He described Mr Walker as “He’s an unfit, late-40s man, suddenly faced with a situation he feared would be out of control”, who “did what he thought was necessary…for a legitimate purpose”. Mr Walker “swears a bit, he huffs and puffs…and gets emotional”, but this “doesn’t amount to someone who’s capable of disproportionate use of force”. There was, he concluded, more than enough evidence for reasonable doubt.
The judge said he had not decided on Mr Walker’s guilt or otherwise, and would not give judgment that day. Judgment is scheduled for a hearing on 13 August.
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