A 24-YEAR-OLD man who caused trouble two days after his father died was given a six-month conditional discharge.
Burnley Crown Court heard how drunken and angry Peter Hammerton kicked a police van and threatened to petrol bomb it as he hit out verbally and physically. He had been ranting and raving, agitated and had told police: “I don’t want to speak to you lot.” Hammerton, of Oak Street, Colne, admitted damage.
Sentencing, Judge Beverley Lunt said she appreciated the defendant was acting under a great deal of stress at the time, but he shouldn’t have taken it out on the police or van.
The judge said she was taking an exceptional course because of the circumstances of the case and told Hammerton: “You are not a drunken danger to the community.”