A MAN who staged a dirty protest and flooded part of the cell block at Fulford Road Police Station has appeared before a judge.

Paul Richard Morgan, 46, was angry about the amount of time he was having to spend in police custody, York Crown Court heard.

Brooke Morrison, prosecuting, said Morgan urinated on the wall of his cell, smeared excrement on it, wrote with food on the wall and poured water from the internal sanitary facilities on the floor until it spread into the corridor outside.

When a police inspector opened the cell hatch to conduct a review, Morgan threw something at the door. The officer ducked and closed the hatch. The missile was a bit of paper or tissue.

"This was disgraceful behaviour," Recorder Mariga Mostafa told Morgan."If you are arrested for an offence you don't believe you have committed, it is very important you co-operate with the police and behave well."

Morgan, of Morrell Court, Foxwood, was not charged in connection with events that led to him being arrested. He was charged with criminal damage to the police cell and assaulting the inspector and pleaded guilty to both charges.

He was ordered to pay the £125 cost of cleaning the cell, plus a £100 fine, £100 prosecution costs and a £32 statutory surcharge. He was also given a two-year conditional discharge.

For Morgan, Graham Parkin said Morgan had not committed any offence before being taken to the police station

He had been calm initially but as time went on and he couldn't get any information about what was happening or how long he would be in custody, he got annoyed and started to damage the cell.

He was arrested at 5.39pm on January 6, 2020, and released at 3.24pm the next day.

His only previous convictions were a public order matter and a criminal damage offence six years earlier.

He was a bricklayer. For five years he had been waiting for a "formal diagnosis" of psychoses and during that time had been unable to work. He was receiving medication and help from his GP and mental health services.