POLICE had to spray incapacitating gas on a passenger to get him off a train at York Railway Station, the city's magistrates heard.

Bricklayer Jamie David Kane, 32, head-butted a officer and punched him in the chest as he insisted on staying on the LNER train, said Martin Butterworth, prosecuting.

A fellow passenger had asked police to deal with Kane because of his drunken behaviour on board.

Kane told a probation officer he had drunk two vodkas on the train, on top of five or six lagers, and that alcohol had made him violent in the past.

Defence solicitor Andrew Craven said Kane had wanted to stay on the train because he didn't have the money to get back to his Newcastle home from York.

Kane, of Elder Drive, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, pleaded guilty to assaulting an emergency worker and a public order offence.

He was given a 12-month community order with 100 hours' unpaid work, a 28-day nightly curfew from 7pm to 7am and 15 days' rehabilitative activities.

He was also ordered to pay £100 compensation to the police officer, plus £85 prosecution costs, plus a £90 statutory surcharge.

Mr Butterworth said Kane was on the 9.30pm London to Edinburgh train on November 29.

Police asked him to leave when it arrived at York, but he refused and became so aggressive they sprayed him with incapacity gas on the train before, eventually, getting him onto the platform.

The officer suffered reddening by his left eye and swelling to the back of his head.

Mr Craven said Kane had had a stressful time in London. He had been to a concert near London Bridge and had been attacked by a group in London.

He had drunk too much.