A lawyer who threatened people with a machete in the streets of London has forced Google to remove references to the incident from its search results after winning a court battle to be 'forgotten' by the seach engine.

Jesler Hartman Kok is a senior associate with Dutch law firm NautaDutilh and works in Rotterdam, but between 2012 and 2014 the banking specialist was based at NautaDutilh's London office. On a Friday night in 2012, shortly after arriving in the UK, the 31-year-old visited the Mango Lounge in Earl's Court. After an argument broke out between Hartman Kok and another group, the Dutchman left the club. He returned at 2am brandishing a machete, which he "waved" at onlookers who were, understandably, "very scared". Witnesses followed the armed associate back to his hotel in Kensington and called the police, who arrived to find Hartman Kok in his room with his weapon hidden under the bed.

"Forget you shaw me, ja?"*

During his trial at Isleworth Crown Court in 2012, Hartman Kok's lawyer argued that his Mango Lounge adversaries were "aggressive" and had "armed themselves with a piece of wood". He insisted that his client was "not a habitual knife-carrier", and his intention was only to "scare this group off". Hartman Kok was sentenced to twenty weeks in prison suspended for eighteen months, and 100 hours of community service. So a pretty chunky sentence, for something considerably more serious than a bit of twoccing.

The story was not widely reported, but the lack of other Hartman Kok news meant that it appeared prominently whenever his name was typed into a search engine. Unhappy with this, the lawyer applied to Google to have the embarrassing links expunged from search results under the EU's 'Right to be Forgotten' directives. Google refused his request, and refused to back down when Hartman Kok took it to court. Google argued that Hartman-Kok's role in public life as a lawyer justified maintaining hyperlinks to a story that he had a criminal conviction for running around threatening people with a giant blade.

However, the District Court of Rotterdam has now found in favour of Hartman Kok, ruling in March that although a lawyer "plays an important role in society by providing legal assistance", it "goes too far" to assume that the public has a right to know they have been convicted. Particularly if the lawyer works in an unrelated field. The Court has said that Hartman Kok "advises on business contracts", and as "the offence for which the applicant was convicted does not relate to his professional activities", his status as a lawyer "is not so relevant that the public interest outweighs the private interest of the applicant ". It ruled that Hartman Kok's right to privacy "will prevail in this case over Google's right to the results to be maintained".

RollOnFriday therefore expects this article to become invisible in the next five minutes. A spokeswoman for Google said, "We are currently studying the verdict, so no news yet whether we will appeal or not". Hartman Kok did not respond to a request for comment. His firm said, “We are aware of this matter in which NautaDutilh was not involved. We have been informed on the outcome of the proceedings, which is a private matter”.

*RollOnFriday simulation. Hartman Kok was only convicted of having one machete, not an arsenal of them.