A POLICE officer felt "overwhelmed" by three youths using ripe language in the early hours, Burnley magistrates were told.

Shaun Dugdale, 18, of High Bucker House Farm, Bordley, near Cracoe, had shouted that he would kill another man who had started shouting at Dugdale and two friends.

Those two then joined in with the "ripe" language and tried to prevent Dugdale being arrested by a police officer, the magistrates were told. The officer felt "overwhelmed" but eventually got help and all three were taken to the police station.

Dugdale and his two friends, Stephen John Hartley, 20, of Rimington Avenue, Colne, and a 17-year-old youth, also from Colne, were each given a 12 month conditional discharge after admitting using threatening behaviour on July 25.

Brian Irlam, representing Dugdale, said the incident was an isolated lapse for him and the other defendants. He had never been involved in anything like it before and could only blame the amount of drink he had taken.

He was not the instigator of the trouble but had ended up with CS spray used on him and had spent nine hours in police cells and that had had a salutory effect, said Mr Irlam.

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