AN alcoholic squared up to road workers and police officers in Colchester High Street before offering them £10,000 for a fight and threatening to bite their noses off, a court has heard.
Levi Bird appeared to engage in normal conversation with workers at about 8pm on Saturday, February 24, with a witness saying he seemed to “pop out of nowhere”.
Serena Berry, prosecuting, told Colchester Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday how Bird “suddenly flipped”.
She said: “His behaviour became aggressive and he started kicking the barrier used for traffic management.
“He pressed his chest up against the victim and said ‘I will batter your face off you ****’.
“People thought they were about to be attacked.”
The court was told how Bird, 42, then entered the work area and fell down a hole that had been sectioned off.
Bird, of Fleming House, Kelvedon, then offered one worker, Christopher Tibble, £10,000 for a fight.
He told him: “I’m going to bite your nose off, chew it up, and spit it out.”
When Bird was arrested, he then spat in the police car, spat at police officers, and when he was taken to Colchester police station he urinated in his cell.
The court also heard of a separate incident on Friday, March 22, when Bird approached two people, shouting at one of them: “Nonce, nonce, I will burn your yard down with your baby in it.”
Bird admitted to one charge of actual bodily harm, four counts of assaulting an emergency worker, one charge of assault by beating, two charges of criminal damage, one charge of threatening to destroy property, and one charge of using threatening words to cause distress.
Caroline Woodley, mitigating, said Bird’s offending was a result of his drinking and had previously recovered from an addiction to Class A drugs.
She said: “In February, he pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and says he doesn’t remember the incident much at all.
“He’s fallen into a hole in the road and made these ridiculous comments to strangers – as a sober person he is ashamed of that behaviour.”
Magistrates sentenced Bird to 14 weeks in prison suspended for a year and ordered him to pay £250 in compensation to the police officers and workmen.
Bird must also carry out 30 rehabilitation requirement days.
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