A pensioner tipped a bag of dog excrement over a Cambridge University lecturer as he cycled past her.
Retired civil servant Susan Currall, 75, was fed up with cyclists "hurtling" towards her as she walked her four-year-old lurcher called Rosie near her home, Cambridge Magistrates' Court heard.
She swung the bag of faeces at Michael Ramage, the director of studies for architecture at Sidney Sussex College, as she believed he was cycling too close to her.
She then held up the bag to allow the contents to spill over the American-born lecturer as he tried to pass her on a path on September 12, said prosecutor Paul Brown.
Miss Currall, a former secretary at the British embassy in Washington, followed up her attack by calling him "a big bully" and saying: "Go cry to your mummy".
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10 Nov 2013Mr Ramage, 40, later made a complaint to police and Currall was quizzed by officers at her home in Trumpington, Cambridge.
She admitted a charge of assault by beating and was given a one year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £100 costs and £25 compensation to Mr Ramage to cover his dry cleaning bill.
The court heard how the confrontation happened on a dual-use path shared by cyclists and pedestrians alongside the allotments and the guided busway in Trumpington.
Monica Lentin, mitigating, said Currall, often "felt anxious" while walking her dog along the path twice a day because of cyclists speeding past.
She claimed that she was "provoked" by Mr Ramage, who also lives in Trumpington, because he got too close to her.
Mrs Lentin said: "I think many people who are pedestrians in Cambridge would agree that having cyclists and pedestrians together doesn't work.
"The pedestrians do feel extremely harassed and I feel the same way myself.
"What makes it worse is you get lots of young men with powerful bikes riding at speed without any conscience that older people can't get out of the way easily."
She added: "These young people come hurtling towards her
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