Owner of Shoreditch shop Peter the Pleater attacks ex-employee with broom

An irate pensioner who attacked his ex-employee with a broom outside her flat has been slapped with a community order.

Peter Selvey, who runs eponymous blind shop Peter the Pleater under the arches in Great Eastern Street, Shoreditch, was found guilty of assault on Friday.

Selvey, 69, of Pulteney Road, South Woodford, hit out at Gaynor Garrett, 48, in February last year in front of her sister, son and nephew on what was a family gathering for her daughter’s 16th birthday.

Ms Garrett, who suffered bruising on her arm from the attack, had previously worked for Selvey at the South Woodford branch of the store and lived down the same road as her ex-boss.

After his sentencing at Barkingside Magistrates Court on Friday, she recalled the attack.

“I was standing outside with my family and he walked straight through the middle of us. Then he came back and muttered something in my ear and started poking me with a broom in the arm. He hit me with it on two fingers.”

Defending Selvey, a navy veteran, at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court, Gabrielle Heaney, said his brush with the law was “extremely isolated and unusual behaviour”.

He was handed a 12-month community order requiring him to carry out up to 15 days of rehabilitation activities.

He was also ordered to pay £220 towards prosecution costs, £150 compensation and a £60 victim surcharge.