'I'm an ex paratrooper and you're nothing': Suspected Sunderland drink-driver kicks cop

David Lloyd, 55, made the judgement from the back of a police car after giving a breath test reading of over twice the limit. And after being arrested and taken into custody, unruly Lloyd, of Field Square, Ford Estate, made matters worse by kicking an officer.

Prosecutor Clare Irving said the defendant was arrested at 8.30pm on Saturday, March 1, after a tip-off. She told magistrates in South Tyneside: “Officers were on duty when there was a report of a possible driver.

“It was said that he had been drinking alcohol in the Grindon Broadway social club. This male was said to be in a highly intoxicated state and heading towards the Pennywell area. Police located the vehicle, parked outside an address in Fordfield Road.

“The defendant was in the driver’s seat, the keys were in the ignition and the engine was on. An officer approached and asked him to take out the key. The defendant was placed in the rear of the police vehicle.

“It was clear that he was drunk. He had been unsteady on his feet. A roadside breath test was given, and it showed 81mcg. He was arrested. He said to officers, ‘I used to be a paratrooper, youse are police officers, that’s nothing, that’s what youse are’.”

Mrs Irving said Lloyd was taken to the city’s Southwick police station and placed in a holding cell. While there, he had to be restrained by the officer who had arrested him, and two colleagues.

She said: “They took him to the floor of the cell. The defendant was struggling. He raised his leg and kicked an officer to his upper right leg. He then failed to provide a sample on the evidential CAMIC breath test device. It was a deliberate refusal.

“He was interviewed and said that he had driven from the Grindon club home, stupidly, and had driven in Fordfield Road. The defendant admitted failing to provide a specimen of breath and said that he couldn’t remember the incident in the police cell. He said that if he had kicked off, he hadn’t meant to. It’s a driving ban of between 17 and 28 months.”

Lloyd’s non-evidential reading of 81mcg was above the legal limit of 35mcg. Lloyd, who was last before a court in 2001, pleaded guilty to failing to provide a sample for analysis and assault by beating of an emergency worker.

When asked by magistrates if he wanted to explain his crimes, Lloyd, who defended himself, said only, “No”. For the assault, he was made subject to a nine-month community order, with 100 hours of unpaid work, and ordered to pay the officer he kicked £50 compensation.

And for failing to provide, he was disqualified from driving for 21 months. He must also pay a £114 victim surcharge and £85 court costs, both in full within 56 days.