Man urinated in police car after threats
DRINKER WAS TOLD TO LEAVE TOWN CENTRE BAR
A grieving dad who pulled a shopping centre security guard’s glasses from his face as he was drunkenly bundled out of a bar then urinated in a police car, has been handed a suspended jail sentence.
Adam Whiffin, 31, had been drinking in Oasis bar in The Galleries, in Washington, on November 26, when he was asked to leave at 6.40pm, Sunderland magistrates heard.
The court heard Whiffin became abusive to a female bar worker.
Prosecutor Sarah Traynor said: “The staff member contacted shopping centre security.
“The defendant became verbally abusive to the security guard and threatened to assault him.
“He pulled his spectacles from his face and threw them to the ground.
“Bar staff witnessed the security guard being threatened by the defendant.
“He was joined by other security officers, who were also threatened with violence.”
Police were called and Whiffin was arrested inside the nearby Sainsbury’s store.
Ms Traynor added: “When he was placed in the police vehicle, he threatened to assault the officer who was transporting him, and was seen to urinate inside the cell of the vehicle.”
Whiffin told officers he had drunk four pints of Stella Artois.
The security guard said in a victim statement: “I felt scared during the incident.
“I do my best to assist the public in the centre and I don’t expect to be assaulted.
“I think it was disrespectful the way he spoke to me and my colleagues and the staff in the bar.”
Whiffin, of Braefell Court, Albany, Washington, admitted threatening unlawful violence.
The court heard he was also in breach of a community order, imposed for carrying an article with a blade.
Jason Smith, defending, said the motor industry employee suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder.
Mr Smith said: “The reality is, when he was in the army he suffered as a consequence of what he saw. He returned home and lost his young daughter in 2011.
“That added to his difficulties with his mental health. It was woefully bad.
“The loss of his daughter, on top of what he suffered on the front line was so traumatic to him.
“On this occasion he’s had a little bit too much to drink.
“He lost his father and that brought back thoughts of his daughter and all that accumulated and he lost his temper.”
Whiffin was sentenced to 24 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended, for a year. He was also told to carry out 20 days of specified activity.
“He pulled his spectacles from his face” SARAH TRAYNOR