Lost man challenged police officer to a fight

John Pickering was sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday

A man who became violent when police at a Nottingham police station said they could not help him find his stepmother’s house has been jailed.

Teesside man John Pickering travelled to the East Midlands in May 2023 to visit his stepparent, but unable to find her home he went to Central Police Station in the early hours.

The 51-year-old then swore at officers who came to talk to him and kicked one as he was detained.

He was given a six-month prison sentence at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday.

Nottinghamshire Police said upon arriving at the police station, Pickering first used the external phone box before two officers went to the street to let him know it was not a 999 matter.

He began swearing at the officers before walking into the road, and then challenging one to a fight.

As he was detained he used racist and homophobic language, made threats and spat, said the force.

At Nottingham Custody Suite, Pickering, of Meath Street, Middlesbrough, kicked another officer causing him pain.

Dog attack

After pleading guilty to racially aggravated intentional harassment and assaulting an emergency worker via video link, Pickering was jailed for six months.

Ch Insp Craig Berry, of Nottinghamshire Police, said hard-working officers should not face abuse as part of the job, and the force takes a “zero-tolerance approach to all forms of hate crime”.

The sentence will run consecutively to a two-year sentence handed to him at Teesside Crown Court in August, after he admitted being in charge of two dogs dangerously out of control causing injury.

His two XL bully dogs attacked a family's pet husky on Majuba Beach in Redcar.

The husky, named Naevia, was seriously injured, while four witnesses who intervened needed hospital treatment.