A YOUNG Carlisle man who became annoyed with police officers after he was unable to find his trousers has admitted an assault.

Police were sent to a property in the city on the morning of March 4 and found 20-year-old Axel Reid in the garden, looking for his missing item of clothing, the city’s Rickergate Magistrates’ Court heard.

Prosecutor Peter Kelly said everybody present agreed the defendant needed  to retrieve his jeans before he left but even after officers made it clear they were happy to help Reid, he became aggressive.

“He said that if he didn’t get his jeans back in five minutes he'd punch everyone out,” said Mr Kelly.

With the help of the police there was a search of the house but it proved fruitless. Reid continued to be aggressive, threatening to “smash” an police officer's face in, despite him  trying to help him.

When the officer was then approached by Reid in a "bouncy and aggressive manner", the officer tried to calm him down but Reid threatened to punch him on the lips. He told the police officer: “Does this face look bothered?”

As the defendant was put in handcuffs, he made yet more threats of violence. “For no discernible reason, the defendant appeared to have taken an instant dislike to [the officer,” said Mr Kelly.

Mark Shepherd, defending, said there was no proper explanation for the defendant’s behaviour that day, it being a “massive overreaction” from a young man who had never before been before a court.

On that day, said the lawyer, Reid had been to a friend’s house, and they had been drinking. It reached the point where he had not been permitted to go back into the house.

It was a morning when it was freezing cold. “He didn’t have his jeans and he needed them to be able to get home,” said the lawyer.

“The police shared that view but they were unable to find his jeans. This upset him, though they were doing the best they could. They didn’t deserve the abuse directed at them.”

Though some of the comments made by Reid were somewhat extreme, said Mr Shepherd, the defendant had no intention of acting of them. He now felt embarrassed by his actions.

Mr Shepherd said Reid, of Cant Crescent, Upperby, would not repeat such behaviour and had now demonstrated remorse.  A part-time window cleaner, Reid was a young man for whom drink and drugs were not issues.

District Judge John Temperley said such behaviour - towards police officers who were trying to help the defendant - had to be taken seriously by the courts.  He acknowledged that there had been no actual violence used but Reid was in drink.

But he was a young man of previous good character.

The district judge imposed a £300 fine, with a £34 victim surcharge and £85 costs. The judge told Reid: “I hope you will learn a lesson after this.” Reid's offence was classed as a police assault. The defendant must pay the officer he assaulted £100 compensation.