A Russian man was reportedly jailed for four years for allegedly assaulting a woman. The incident took place in Britain in January earlier this year.
The case unexpectedly involved US President Donald Trump’s son Barron Trump, who told UK police he’d witnessed the attack during a video call last year.
According to CNN, Matvei Rumiantsev, 22, was sentenced at London’s Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday.
In January, Rumiantsev was found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, British news agency PA Media reported.
He was also found guilty of perverting the court of justice, a charge related to a letter that Rumiantsev wrote to the woman from prison after the attack, requesting that she withdraw the allegations.
The action was taken against Rumiantsev after Donald Trump’s son told UK police he had seen a woman being beaten up on a video call.
Barron Trump son had called British police from the US after he saw the victim being assaulted by Matvei Rumiantsev on a FaceTime call, the SUN reported.
What exactly happened?
According to the SUN, Snaresbrook Crown Court was told that Barron had called the woman, who jurors heard is friends with the president’s son, in the early hours of January 18.
During the assault, Rumiantsev, who lived in Canary Wharf, east London, reportedly answered a FaceTime call on her phone and turned the camera to show her crying on the floor.
What did Baron Trump see on video call?
According to the report, Barron had phoned police in London and told them he had seen 23-year-old Rumiantsev grab the woman’s hair and push her to the floor.
Giving evidence, the victim said: “He [Barron Trump] helped save my life. That call was like a sign from God at that moment.”
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) later released a transcript of the call in which police were alerted to the crime by the American.
Barron was quoted as saying, “Oh I’m calling from the US, uh I just got a call from a girl, you know, she’s getting beat up. This was happening about eight minutes ago. I just figured out how to, how to call someone. Uh, uh it’s really an emergency.”
Asked by the operator how he knew the woman, Trump said: “I don’t think these details matter, she’s getting beat up but OK fine, also I met her on social media, I don’t think that matters.”
At one point, the 999 City of London Police operator told off Trump for refusing to answer questions. The operator said: “Can you stop being rude and actually answer my questions?”
A few months later, in May 2025, Trump told police in an email that what he saw had been “very brief indeed but indeed prevalent”.
According to the BBC, the 19-year-old said his video call to the woman had been picked up by “a shirtless man with darkish hair”.
This view lasted “maybe one second” before the camera flipped to “the victim getting hit while crying”, he told police, adding: “This whole interaction had lasted five to seven seconds.”
Rumiantsev jailed for 4 years | The case so far
In January, Rumiantsev appeared at court accused of two counts of rape, assault by beating and intentional strangulation, among other offences.
But, a jury found him not guilty of all but two charges – assault occasioning actual bodily harm and perverting the course of justice, the SUN reported.
Rumiantsev has now been jailed for four years — two years for assault and two years for perverting the course of justice — to be served consecutively.
According to the BBC, prosecutors said Rumiantsev had been jealous of the woman’s friendship with Trump. The prosecution said he assaulted the woman on 18 January 2025, including hitting her in the face.
What did the accused tell court?
When asked during investigation whether he was jealous of men the victim might speak to, Rumiantsev said: “What I was really unhappy about was that she was frankly leading him [Trump] on.”
Justice Bennathan KC told Rumiantsev the trial was about whether he “attacked her or not”.
Rumiantsev responded: “I am being portrayed as a jealous person who can lose his temper due to jealousy. I want to just make clear that her actions towards him was wrong and it was not fair.”
He added: “I was jealous to some extent.”
The conviction for perverting the court of justice relates to a letter Rumiantsev wrote to the woman from prison after the 18 January attack, asking her to withdraw her allegations.
