An army veteran has blasted suggestions he ‘staged’ a milkshake attack on himself after Remainers claimed it could be a conspiracy on social media.
Don McNaughton, who is in his 80s and served in the Parachute Regiment from 1960 until 1982, was doused in the pink ‘Co-op milkshake’ yesterday in Aldershot, Hampshire, while campaigning for the Brexit Party on European Parliament election day.
But Twitter users claimed the veteran could have poured a Tesco Finest cherry yoghurt over himself, whether on purpose or accidentally, and then ‘made the best’ of the situation.
The incident followed recent milkshake attacks on Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson on the European election campaign trail in recent weeks.
Mr MacNaughton laughed off the claims and branded them ‘ridiculous’, adding it didn’t matter if it was a milkshake or not.
The claims have since been disputed by other social media sleuths including real-life ex- Met Police detective David Videcette, who led investigations around the 7/7 London bombings and said the milkshake scenario was far more likely because the nearest Tesco is a mile away from the scene, while there is a Co-op along the road.
Sleuths on Twitter are claiming there was a ‘conspiracy’ around the milkshake attack on veteran paratrooper Don McNaughton with one user flagging up several ‘clues’ and questions over whether it was legitimate
Remainers claimed the incident in Aldershot yesterday was actually ‘faked with cherry yoghurt’ due to the ‘pieces of fruit’ visible on his clothes
Twitter user @Harveyschmacker questioned whether the substance was a milkshake because of the ‘lumps of cherry’
Mr McNaughton said: ‘That is ridiculous. It was not staged I wouldn’t be able to tell you if it was a strawberry milkshake or a strawberry yogurt, all I know is that it was strawberry flavoured.
‘I didn’t see the container that the man was carrying, I could only look down at the stains of “strawberry flavoured” liquid on my shirt, tie and trousers. He held it in his hands when he threw it, so I could not see it.’
Writing on Twitter, Harvey compared the incident in Aldershot with the milkshake attacks on Mr Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, and Mr Farage in recent weeks.
Posting pictures of both, he compared how the liquid was splattered across them ‘from top to bottom’ and argued Mr McNaughton had much less of the substance on him.
Harvey wrote: ‘Look at the splatter from a thrown milkshake over Farage, the force from the milkshake flying through the air with high velocity has caused the milkshake to go over Farage from top to bottom.
‘The same large covering shows on Tommy too, also note in both milkshake incidents how the milkshake has a liquid consistency and trails down their men of the people suits.
‘Now back to Brexit Party Milkshake Man. Having a closer look, you can see how much thicker the milkshake thrown over him is, there’s barely any of the signature trails of falling milkshake like the previous example.
‘This firstly, puts doubt to this being thrown over him. If it was thrown at any distance he would show more of a covering, not just located to his stomach area. If this was indeed thrown, the unknown thrower was very damn close.
Harvey also compared the ‘splatter’ on Mr McNaughton to recent milkshake attacks on Tommy Robinson, right, and Nigel Farage, left, during campaigning for European elections
Another used some photo forensics, pictured, to suggest Mr McNaughton would have had to use his left hand to create such a splatter, but was eating his sandwich with that hand
Harvey concluded the evidence was ‘undeniable’ and that the veteran was ‘making the best’ of the situation
‘When you zoom in more, something more ominous appears. Not only the thickness of the ‘milkshake’ that seems odd, there’s pieces of fruit in this ‘milkshake’.’
He then claimed the liquid contained pieces of fruit and was of a different colour and texture to what he would expect to see in a milkshake.
Harvey said: ‘After tireless hours of looking, these are lumps of cherry. I’ve had plenty of smoothies with bits of fruit in, but never a milkshake. So why is there lumps of cherry over this gentlemen?
‘BECAUSE MY FRIENDS, THIS IS NO MILKSHAKE THAT HAS LANDED ON THE GENTLEMAN.
‘ITS GODDAM CHERRY YOGHURT.
‘If the lumps of cherry haven’t convinced you, the colour match is damning. As shown in most of the photos, the gentleman is holding a partially eaten sandwich.
‘This shows he was eating lunch around the time of the ‘attack’, interesting. I’m not one to judge, but he seems the type of fella who prepares a hearty packed lunch.
Ex-Met Police detective David Videcette disagreed and pointed out that Mr McNaughton claimed the offender went into a nearby Co-op to get a milkshake, pictured
Mr Videcette then revealed the nearest Tesco, where one could buy a Finest brand cherry yoghurt, was more than a mile away. Pictured is the junction of the road in Aldershot where the milkshake attack allegedly took place
Meanwhile the nearest Co-op, pictured, is just a few hundred yards from the scene
Mr Videcette said the far more likely scenario was that it was a Co-op milkshake
‘One consisting of a sandwich, and I don’t know? A CHERRY YOGHURT?
‘Going back to the splatter not going far as in the previous milkshake throwings, it’s exactly where yoghurt would go if you spilt a pot over yourself sat at a table due to a rogue spoon movement.
‘Due to the undeniable evidence laid out to me, this is no milkshake throwing.
‘This is a case of the bloke t***ting over a whole pot of yoghurt over himself and making the best out of it. If you’re going to do a lactose false flag though, use the right dairy product.’
Many on social media found his amateur detective work hilarious, with Twitter users quick to make light of the ‘conspiracy’ and compare his work to Agatha Christie’s detective Hercule Poirot.
But Mr Videcette, who has since become a writer after leaving the Met, quickly disputed the claims by analysing the evidence.
He wrote: ‘The victim of the attack said: ‘Some yob, mid-20s, he came across from (a) street, walked over to me, gave me the finger, went up to the Co-Op, got a milkshake, came down here and threw it on me. Politics today.’
‘And the truthers said: [it was a Tesco Finest cherry yoghurt].
Other Twitter users were quick to make light of the whole situation, branding it the ‘most important issue of the European elections’
Others compared the detective work to police television show CSI. One user, pictured, added that Byron Burger milkshakes have fruit in, which could prove it was not a yoghurt
Some sensible replies also followed, including one user who suggested the offender ‘grabbed the nearest thing to a milkshake they could’ because they were ‘unprepared’
‘The incident took place in North Lane Aldershot at the junction with Denmark Street, outside the North Town Community Base. Google tells me that the nearest store selling Tesco’s Finest range is over a mile away.
‘However, as Don himself explains, there is a Co-Op store just a few hundred yards away on North Lane.
‘I’m very much looking forward to the scientific evidence being presented from the milkshake truthers to prove it was the Finest range.
‘Can someone please wake me up when it’s posted? Thanks.’
Mr McNaughton had been sitting on a chair outside the polling station and recording the number of people who have voted.
And the soaked veteran called on the police to name and shame the ‘imbecilic’ milkshake chucker.
He said: ‘Some of the people who have seen me like this are almost in tears. The girls, I try to cheer them up but they look on it as something very horrendous – and it is quite horrendous – but to me it was horrendously funny.’
The widower has published two novels about his time in the military – They Stood in the Door was published in 1983, followed by They Stayed a Soldier in 1986.
Mr McNaughton is in his 80s and served in the Parachute Regiment from 1960 until 1982
Private Don McNaughton (pictured second right) with the Parachute Regiment Freefall Team and their De Havilland Rapide Plane