Manosphere influencer Ed Matthews has been ordered to pay more than £4,500 after making lewd remarks to a Polish Sainsbury’s worker at a store in Lancaster.
The 24-year-old was with four other men when they surrounded the woman as she cleaned near the alcohol aisle on the evening of March 2. She was wearing a sling because of a shoulder injury and told the court she felt trapped.
Preston Magistrates’ Court heard that the group initially asked where they could find mead before questioning the worker about British food, including Yorkshire puddings.
Matthews then asked whether she liked “English wood”. The prosecutor said she understood this to mean a penis and replied that she did not.
He went on to ask whether she liked “Polish wood” and questioned whether she was a lesbian after she again said no. The court was also told that Matthews, who was using crutches, described how he had injured his leg “during a threesome”.
The worker eventually gave one of the men details of her Instagram account in an effort to make them leave. She reported the incident to her manager, and police identified Matthews through an account that followed her.
Matthews answered no comment to every question when interviewed by officers in August. He later pleaded guilty to using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with the intention of causing harassment, alarm or distress.
He was fined £2,884 and ordered to pay £1,154 in victim surcharge, £500 in compensation and £85 in costs.
His solicitor, Saf Rathor, told the court that Matthews earned between £5,000 and £10,000 a month and was “embarrassed and ashamed” by his behaviour. He said the influencer had “turned to God” and “turned over a new leaf” since serving time in prison.
Matthews was jailed earlier this year for 12 weeks after attacking a man he claimed was a paedophile in a sting. Mr Rathor said his client now wanted “to inspire the young”.
Chair magistrate Deborah Topping said Matthews had taken a leading role in the incident and that the woman had felt trapped.
“It wasn’t just one or two words and then you walked away – it was sustained,” she said.
After the hearing, a video posted on Mr Rathor’s TikTok account showed Matthews standing in front of a prison van and appearing to boast about “getting out of a case”.
Matthews appeared in Louis Theroux’s Netflix documentary Inside the Manosphere, which included an interview recorded during his time in Marbella. In the programme, he made antisemitic claims about Jewish people controlling the world.
Following the documentary, Matthews questioned online whether it had been a “hit piece” and wrote: “Maybe we can do a hit piece on [Mr Theroux].”
