A councillor who referred to a custody sergeant as “t*** and teeth” and said he was allergic to police, has been handed a suspended prison sentence.

Peter Little, 36, an Allerdale Borough councillor, was sentenced at Workington Magistrates’ Court yesterday, after pleading guilty on August 3, to three charges of using threatening or abusive words or behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

Lee Dacre, prosecuting, said that the offences happened on May 1 after Little got into a dispute with his neighbours, Paul Winder and Michelle Glasson.

The court was told that Mr Winder had heard a loud bang outside and could see Little stood by his gate.

He was swearing and drunk, and asked Mr Winder to “come out and fight it out”.

The court heard that Little had been unhappy about where Mr Winder had parked his car.

A police vehicle had turned onto the street “by coincidence” and Little was arrested.

He was abusive to the arresting officers, the court was told.

Little arrived at the police station shortly after 1am. He was shouting, “can you take these ******* cuffs off me?”

The court heard that when the custody sergeant addressed him as Mr Little, he replied, “it’s councillor Little to you”.

When the custody sergeant said, “I have no idea who you are”, Little had replied, “**** off”.

He also called the custody sergeant “specky four eyes”, the court was told.

When asked if he had any mental health problems, Little replied, “yes, I’m ******* cuckoo”.

He was then asked if he was on any medication for his mental health, and he replied, “fresh air”.

When asked if he had taken any drugs, he said: “Councillor Little takes it all.”

He was then asked if he had any allergies, to which he replied “police”.

Little used homophobic language to the custody sergeant and he then said, “if it wasn’t for this mask, I would spit in your face, you ugly b****.”

Mr Dacre told the court that the custody sergeant had never been subjected to such long abuse from one person.

When police checked on Little in the morning, he had put his custody suit down the toilet.

He referred to the custody sergeant as “her with the teeth and t**s”.

The prosecutor said that Little’s behaviour continued throughout, until he left the custody suite.

A video of Little arriving at the police station was shown to the court. Little had his head bowed while much of it was played.

Mr Dacre said: “The threats to spit are particularly unpleasant given Covid and the health risks they carry with it.”

Sean Harkin, defending, said there had been an ongoing neighbourhood dispute between Peter Little and Paul Winder.

“He appears to be apologetic and ashamed of his behaviour. He does display genuine remorse.

“He served for his country. He is a councillor. You would expect better behaviour from someone in public office but that’s a double edged sword. He contributes to his community in a positive way.”

Passing sentence, Judge John McGarva, said: “As a councillor, the public expects people in public office to set a good example, not a poor example like you did this day.”

Little was given two 12-week prison sentences to run concurrently, suspended for 12 months.

He must carry out 100 hours unpaid work, plus a 15 days rehabilitation activity requirement with a three-month alcohol treatment order.

Little must also pay compensation to each victim, £85 court costs and a £95 surcharge to fund victim services.