A 35-YEAR-OLD man who had been hit over the head struggled with police because he couldn't understand why he was being handcuffed, a court was told.

Magistrates heard that Nicholas Simpson was disoriented at the time and Kevin Preston, defending, said it was hardly surprising considering the blow he had received from a weapon.

Simpson, 35, of Redearth Road, Darwen, pleaded guilty to resisting a police officer. He was fined £100 and ordered to pay £50 compensation and £55 costs.

Mr Preston told the Blackburn court that police were called to a neighbour's house in Redearth Road where his client's partner had got involved in a dispute with the male occupant.

"My client intervened and for his trouble was struck about the head with a shillelagh, a fact admitted to the police by the other man," said Mr Preston.