A DRUNK who phoned police claiming his back was broken and he needed an ambulance was flouting a court order at the same time.

Pennine magistrates heard how ex-church voluntary worker, Brian Fleming, 55, was banned from being drunk in public because of a two year anti-social behaviour order, imposed in January.

Under the ASBO, Fleming is also prohibited from calling 999 except in an emergency, must not to get on a bus while drunk, not cause harassment, alarm or distress and must not urinate or expose his genitals or buttocks in public in Burnley.

The defendant, who has 221 offences on his record, had made the call from a phone box in Keirby Walk, Burnley, and when police attended, they found him semi-conscious and mumbling incoherently.

Fleming, care of Holmes Square, Burnley, admitted breaching the ASBO, for the fourth time, on November 3.

He was given four weeks in jail, suspended for a year, and must pay a £60 victim surcharge.

Mark Williams, for Fleming, said he had spent a lot of time living on the streets and had been a nuisance as a result.

He would sleep in shop doorways or in the doorway of the probation office and when staff arrived in the morning, they couldn't wake him up.

The solicitor said: “When he drinks he gets himself into a terrible state.

“He really can't deal with his alcoholism. He has tried. He is trying.”