Judge denies disorderly charge

A county court judge who was arrested for being drunk and disorderly told magistrates yesterday that he called two police officers "arseholes" because he was shocked and frightened at the way he was "unlawfully arrested".

David Messenger, 49, a solicitor and deputy district judge, was held at the Best Kebab takeaway outlet in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, after trying to intervene in an incident involving the police in the kitchen. He told Selby magistrates he was trying to protect the interests of a client during a dispute over the ownership of the premises.

Mr Messenger, who admitted having had four or five pints of beer before the incident on 2 May, said that as he was being frogmarched out of the shop he shouted to someone he knew to "tell these two arseholes who I am". Asked to justify his language, Mr Messenger replied: "It is terminology that's used widely. It's a word in common usage. I'm sure the officers would have heard that and worse before. It was because I was shocked and frightened."

The court was told that Mr Messenger continued to protest in the police station.

Mr Messenger, from Scarborough, denies being drunk and disorderly, two counts of obstructing police officers and one of causing £188 worth of criminal damage to a call button in a police cell .

The case continues.