Lawyer ‘repeatedly punched’ fashion designer when he sat in wrong seat at opera

A lawyer attacked a fashion designer after he moved to an empty front row seat at the opera, a court heard today.

Matthew Feargrieve, 43, is said to have targeted Ulrich Engler, 56, with ‘a constant flow of blows’ while attending a performance at the Royal Opera House on October 7 2018.

The incident began when Mr Engler moved from his position in row B to an empty seat in row A just before the third performance of the Ring Cycle by Wagner started.

He told City of London Magistrates’ Court he had asked Feargrieve’s partner Catherine Chandler if she would mind him sitting next to her.

When she replied that she did mind, he asked if she had paid for the seat and she responded that she hadn’t, he claimed.

He then ‘took the coat and placed it on her lap before climbing into the seat and apologising’.

The fashion designer told the court this was when Feargrieve assaulted him, saying: ‘By then the conductor was up and the music started and I received blows to my left shoulder.

‘I had never seen someone looking with so much anger and terror at me.’

He added that Feargrieve had said ‘How dare you talk to my wife like this’ while he hit him, stating: ‘It wasn’t just a few blows, it was an assault. It was a constant flow of blows.’

He was left with injuries to his left side after he was repeatedly punched, he said.

Ms Chandler tried to calm Feargrieve down and the couple left, the court heard.

Charles Shelton, prosecuting, claimed that investment funds lawyer Feargrieve had taken ‘some offence’ when Mr Engler moved seats at a different performance three days earlier, believing it to be ‘poor form’

However, Mr Feargrieve has denied assaulting the fellow opera-goer, claiming that he dislocated Mr Engler’s arm while defending his partner from him.

The designer had thrown Ms Chandler’s coat on the floor and pushed her as she bent down to pick it up, Lisa Wilding QC, defending, told the court.

She said: ‘When she did that, you physically shoved her back. I suggest that the motion of pushing her as she was getting her coat pushed her into Mr Feargrieve.

‘I suggest she went forward again and his arm went behind her and he tried to reach out to you to push you away.’

Mr Engler called this version of events ‘a fabrication’, saying: ‘I put it into the woman’s lap. I never saw the coat on the floor.’

He had been arrested at the opera house on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm on the evening in question, but was not charged.

His defence claimed he had made the counter allegation after his arrest due to impact to his reputation.

The trial continues.