A SEVERELY disabled father of four was found with a snooker ball in a sock when the British National Party held a meeting in Burnley.

Magistrates heard how qualified nurse and social worker Michael White, 39, was a member of the Anti Nazi League and told police he would have used the sock had he been attacked.

White, of Palatine Square, Burnley, admitted possessing an offensive weapon and was given a six months conditional discharge, with £30 costs.

David Hartley, prosecuting, said on August 1 police spoke to White on the car park of Burnley Crown Court near the Falcon public house.

A BNP meeting was taking place in the area and the defendant said he was a member of the Anti Nazi League and was in the area because of the meeting.

The officer noticed heavy items in White's leather jacket and asked him what was in it.

The defendant produced the sock with a billiard ball in it and was arrested. He told police he had a severe disability and would have used it in a fight.

Trevor Grice, defending, said White expressed remorse. He was a man of principle and had gone to peacefully protest about the activites of the BNP.

In the past, he had been victimised and bullied because of his disability and forearmed himself with the ball in the sock in case he was attacked. It had been kept in his jacket and not produced in public at all.