A CARLISLE man arrested for criminal damage repeatedly spat at the police officers involved – and then used a police van and two cells as a toilet.

When he appeared before magistrates at Carlisle’s Rickergate court, 33-year-old John Keenan apologised for his behaviour. He admitted three emergency worker assaults and two counts of causing criminal damage.

Police were called to a building in the city where the defendant’s partner was staying after a report that a window had been broken.

Officers arrived at the scene to find the woman in a “distressed state.”

“The officers discovered the smashed window and a rock on the ground outside,” said prosecutor Geeorge Shelley.

When Keenan, of Haigh Road, Carlisle, was arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage, he became agitated and began making threats towards the police officers, the court heard.

As he was placed in the back of the police van, he spat, the spittle landing in the face of a female officer. He then warned the officers that he would urinate in the back of the van.

He did so.

When he arrived at the custody suite of Carlisle’s Durranhill Police HQ, he continued to be aggressive. He again spat at an officer as he was being taken to a police cell.

This time, the spittle landed on an officer’s chest. After being put into a cell, he urinated on the cell floor. When he was moved from that cell, he again misbehaved, spitting, urinating and defecating.

The police van and the two cells he was put into had to be professionally cleaned, the court heard. The defendant’s criminal record included 55 previous offences.

Tariw Khawam, mitigating, told the court: “The defendant has apologised from the outset for his behaviour.” The catalyst for the offending, said the lawyer, was a message from his partner in which she told him that she wanted to end their relationship.

“Before that, he’d been doing very well,” said the lawyer, explaining that the defendant had produced a series of negative urine tests while working with the Recovery Steps organisation.

Given the defendant's previous offending, magistrates said that custody was the only appropriate sentence.

They jailed Keenan for 18 weeks.

He was told also to pay compensation - £502 to Cumbria Police to cover the cost of cleaning the mess he made and £300 to the owner of the property where the window was smashed.

The defendant must also pay £200 compensation to each of the officers he assaulted, making a total debt owed to the court of £1,407.

“We were not persuaded that there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation,” said the presiding magistrate.