‘Do you want to see me kick off properly?’ - yob's bid to intimidate cops called to friend's home during lockdown

Mark Baird, 29, told an officer who attended Holylake Square, near Sunderland Royal Hospital, “Do you want to see me kick off properly?”, a court heard.

Baird, also warned, “Is this the road that you want to go down, do you know who I am?”

Despite his implied threats, Baird – who had been fined by a court just days earlier for a separate offence – was arrested without violence at 10.20pm on Friday, February 19.

Prosecutor Leanne Duffy told magistrates in South Tyneside: “Officers had cause to attend Holylake Square.

“The defendant came to the door. He said, ‘If you want something to happen, it will happen’.

“The officer thought that this was an attempt to intimidate him.

“Despite officers’ attempts to go into the property, the defendant didn’t oblige. The defendant continued to provoke.”

Ms Duffy said the officers gained entry and asked people inside to leave, which they began to do.

But she added: “He said to them, ‘Is this the road that you want to go down, do you know who I am?’

“It was explained to him why the police were there, and he said, ‘Do you want to see me kick off properly?’ It was deliberate obstruction and intimidation.

“The Crown would say that the defendant was at an address he shouldn’t have been at due to national lockdown.”

Robin Ford, defending jobless Baird, said: “He was arrested at 10.20pm and he was not released from custody until about 10am the following day.

“He spent about 12 hours in custody for being an idiot. He apologises through me for his actions. He’s not a man of means.

“He didn’t know that the police had the right to attend the address. He was ignorant of the law, he set his lips off.”

Baird, of Ambleside Court, Birtley, Gateshead, who pleaded guilty to obstructing a PC in the execution of their duty, was handed a 12-month conditional discharge and must pay £85 court cost and a £22 victim surcharge.

Support your Echo and become a subscriber today. Enjoy unlimited access to local news, the latest on SAFC and new puzzles every day. With a digital subscription, you can see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Click here to subscribe.