TWO police officers who handcuffed a man while he was asleep on his bed were not acting illegally, a court has decided.

Colin David Ernest Cardwell, 24, had denied causing a breach of the peace and assaulting PC Paul Schofield after a domestic incident at his former home in Central Avenue, Oswaldtwistle.

Richard Prew, defending, claimed PC Schofield and his colleague PC Andrew Riley had unlawfully arrested his client.

Mr Prew said Cardwell was extremely drunk and had fallen asleep and might not have woken for up to eight hours.

But Cardwell, of Blackpool Street, Church, was found guilty of both charges after at trial at Hyndburn Magistrates' court,

Cardwell, who chose not to give evidence himself, was fined £200 and ordered to pay £125 costs. He was ordered to pay £25 compensation to PC Schofield and also bound over in the sum of £100 to keep the peace for the next 12 months.

PC Schofield told the court he went to the house in Central Avenue on May 23 after a 999 call made by Cardwell's wife Joanne to report that her husband was being violent.

The officer said that when he arrived, Mrs Cardwell was in the street with her baby. She was clutching a knife and asking for her husband to be removed from the house. PC Schofield said he and PC Riley found Cardwell asleep in an upstairs bedroom. They handcuffed him before walking him to the top of the stairs and telling him he was under arrest for breaching the peace.

When they got Cardwell into the street he shouted to his wife and became violent. Four officers were needed to carry him into a police van.

PC Schofield and PC Riley told the court they believed Cardwell was pretending to be asleep when they removed him from the van at Accrington police station.

While they were taking him to the custody area from the street outside, Cardwell broke free and a scuffle took place.

Cardwell, who was still handcuffed, ended up on his back and kicked PC Schofield in the face, causing a cut to his cheek.

Cardwell himself later sustained a facial injury after the two officers fell on top of him during a further struggle in the police station yard.

Mr Prew cited cases from the Court of Appeal and claimed officers had no right to arrest Cardwell because he was asleep and heavily drunk, and a further breach of the peace was not threatened.

He claimed Cardwell's assault on the officer was reasonable behaviour because he had been unlawfully arrested.

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