A MAN has assaulted a police officer after being arrested for urinating on the carpets of a pub.

Magistrates heard how William Lee, 22, from Sutton Grange, Northallerton, had drunk an excessive amount of drink at the Unicorn Hotel, in Ripon Market Place on January 2.

At midnight he could not find the toilet, so he urinated over the carpet, radiator and furniture in a quiet area of the pub.

He then went to find a member of staff to tell them what he had done, prompting them to call the police.

Martin Butterworth, prosecuting, told the Northallerton Magistrates' Court on Friday how officers found Lee on High Skelgate in the town. PC Dave Furlong went to arrest him and restrained him when he didn’t comply.

Lee struggled violently on the ground, lashing out and kicked out with his legs when he was put in the back of a police van, hitting PC Furlong in the chest and his knee and causing bruising.

Whilst en route to the police station, Lee bent his handcuffs across his knee, pulling them off and using them to bang on the Perspex box within the police van he was held inside.

Lee, 22, from Sutton Grange, Northallerton, pleaded guilty to causing £100 worth of damage to the Unicorn Hotel.

He also pleaded guilty to preventing a police officer from executing his duty, assaulting a police officer and damage to police property; the handcuffs and the Perspex box inside the police van.

He was ordered to pay £100 to the pub and £100 to the police officer he assaulted. He was also fined £65 for assaulting an officer and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £20.