Police arrested abusive man as he was caught urinating in the street

A man has admitted using threatening behaviour after he was abusive to police as they tried to deter him from urinating in the street.
Chesterfield magistrates' court.Chesterfield magistrates' court.
Chesterfield magistrates' court.

Chesterfield magistrates’ court heard on Wednesday, May 9, how Paul Kirkham, 53, of Berwick Road, Harpur Hill, at Buxton, was approached by police at Harpur Hill when they spotted him urinating in the street.

Prosecuting solicitor Lynn Bickley said: “It was half-past midnight, on December 10, last year, when a police officer on routine patrol on Harpur Hill Road saw a male urinating in the pavement in full view of houses facing into the street while making no effort to conceal what he was doing.

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“Officers stopped their car to give advice saying he needed to be more discreet.”

Police claimed the defendant responded by swearing and shouting and arguing about where else he could go.

Mrs Bickley added that an officer got out of the police vehicle to give further advice and to calm the defendant down but Kirkham swore at him and tried to push past the officer and as a result he was arrested for a public order offence.

Kirkham was given a choice by police of a fixed penalty notice or to be reported to court, according to Mrs Bickley, but the defendant became abusive again and said he wished to go to court.

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The defendant pleaded guilty to using threatening behaviour.

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He told the court: “I am genuinely mortified at the position I found myself in.”

He added that he has never been in trouble with the police but he accepted he had been swearing at the officer.

However, he argued that he had made efforts to conceal himself and claimed the police had been antagonistic by mounting the pavement in their car.

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Magistrates sentenced Kirkham to a six-month conditional discharge and warned that if he commits another offence in the next six months he will be sentenced for the threatening behaviour with any new crime.

He was also ordered to pay £85 costs and a £20 victim surcharge.