A Rossendale man has been given a community order after homophobically abusing a stranger at a pub.
Tony Wheeler, 44, abused the man, who he did not know, in the beer garden of the Shepherds Inn in Haslingden Road, Rawtenstall, on September 9 last year.
The Crown Prosecution Service said the man was a customer at the pub and did not know Wheeler, also of Haslingden Road, Rawtenstall.
Wheeler pleaded guilty to using threatening/abusive/insulting words/behaviour to cause harassment/alarm/distress at Blackburn Magistrates' Court on May 28.
At the same court on June 26, he was sentenced to a 12-month community order with 15 rehabilitation activity days, 60 alcohol abstinence monitoring days, and to pay £100 compensation, £85 costs, and a £114 surcharge.
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