A POLICEMAN had to have stitches after he was abused and assaulted by a man he had just arrested.

Burnley Crown Court heard how olive-skinned, half Irish and half Italian Jason Manning had been racially taunted and felt pain in his left shin as he tried to put struggling Stephen Bentham into a police van.

Bentham, 27, of Mercer Street, Great Harwood, denies assault causing actual bodily harm, in March.

Zoe Nield, prosecuting, said the officer and his colleague Diane Mansell were on late-night patrol on High Street, Rishton, when a man stepped in front of their van and they had to stop.

They got out to speak to him and the defendant and another man were shouting abuse towards them from outside a pub.

Both appeared drunk and the officers went to ask them to calm down. PC Manning politely warned the defendant about his behaviour and told him he could be end up being arrested.

The two men moved on to another street and and shouted racial abuse at PC Manning.

The other man, who was being disorderly was arrested and Bentham was offensive to the officer who went to arrest him.

The defendant tried to get away, fell, but was lifted to his feet by PC Manning.

Bentham struggled violently, kicked out and shouted abuse as the officer opened the police van door and held onto him.

Miss Nield said the defendant was standing behind PC Manning who felt pain in his left shin. A police sergeant helped put Bentham, still struggling, into the van.

PC Manning suffered a one centimetre gash to his leg, went to hospital and had two stitches.

The prosecutor said Bentham was interviewed the next day at the police station. He claimed he had seen PC Manning bang his shin on the step of the police van and he denied being abusive.