Wigan man put police van out of action

Stuart Gibson damaged the vehicle after being falsely accused of a serious crime.

The 35-year-old had been arrested and placed in the van following the “extremely serious allegation”, which was later dropped – details of which were not revealed to the court.

Wigan magistrates heard Gibson, of Devonshire Road, Atherton, plead guilty to causing criminal damage.

The court heard how, in the early hours of January 25, police were called to a domestic incident at an address in Ince.

Officers arrived on scene to take Gibson into custody, but resisted arrest. He was restrained on the floor and handcuffed before being escorted to the van.

But as the officers were preparing to leave, their exit was blocked by an ambulance attending an address nearby for around 30 minutes, during which time Gibson was in the back and becoming increasingly agitated. He began kicking the cage and shouting in a bid to antagonise the officers.

Arriving at the station, police found the door lock broken, were unable to pry the door open and had to get Gibson out via another exit.

The damage made the vehicle unusable, according to solicitor Melissa Fagan.

She told the bench: “When arrested, he freely admitted to the criminal damage. Gibson was accused of an extremely serious allegation, but was never interviewed, as the complainant dropped the false accusation.

“He was confused and frustrated, and said his handcuffs were too tight, but the police wouldn’t loosen them.

“He kicked out to draw attention to his frustration, but didn’t intend to cause damage.”

Gibson must pay a total of £185 in fines and costs. He was told by the chair of the bench: “You don’t want to be kicking off in the back of a police van. You are only going to do yourself more damage.”

GMP sought no compensation as they will be able to replace the lock using scrapped parts, the court was told.