A FATHER-TO-BE who downed 10 pints of lager, six shots of sambuca and eight brandies before kicking a man in the head and threatening to kill a police officer walked free from court on Monday.

Michael Payne, aged 34, had been drinking with Keith Middlemore at the Last Orders pub, on Bridge Street, on June 2 this year.

Payne, of St Benedict’s Close, Orford, left the pub with 39-year-old Mr Middlemore following an argument.

CCTV footage showed the pair continuing to row in a nearby bus shelter, pushing and shoving each other before Payne forced his victim on to the ground and kicked him at least three times.

Mr Middlemore refused help from paramedics but later received treatment for a one-inch cut to his forehead, which required butterfly stitches.

Payne was aggressive and swearing when arrested by police at the scene and when taken to Runcorn Custody Suite in a police van began threatening the driver, PC Julie May, telling her he knew where she lived and mentioning her children.

Payne admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm and threatening behaviour.

Simon Berkson, defending, had previously told Warrington Crown Court his client had suffered from anxiety and depression since the death of his mother.

He had been unable to work for the past three years and had developed a drinking problem, the court heard.

Payne was on a two-year licence for a suspended sentence of two months he received in November 2007 after he was caught with a kitchen knife while drink driving and his previous convictions include assault and robbery.

But Judge Thomas Teague handed him a total of six months in jail, suspended for two years.

He must also attend a six-month alcohol and drug services programme.

Judge Teague said: “You need to understand you have been given a chance here to conquer your past alcohol problems.”

David Jones, prosecuting, had applied for £300 prosecution costs, but the judge said Payne would only pay £150 as he was on incapacity benefit and his wife was in labour at Warrington Hospital.