Stockport man guilty of 1847 crime with 40 shilling fine

A white van man who launched a foul-mouthed tirade at police officers after refusing to be breathalysed was hauled into court under a Victorian law that dates back 168 years.

Adam Cunningham, 32, branded police officers ‘stupid c***s, f****** k*** penis w*****s’ when they tried to get him to give a breath sample, believing he had been involved in a car crash on December 5.

After being dragged to a police station, ‘blowing gently’ and failing to give a proper specimen eight times, he became frustrated and told officers: ‘buzz off you boring c***, suck my d***’. 

Officers charged Cunningham, of Stockport, Greater Manchester, with ‘indecent behaviour at a police station’, from the 1847 Town Police Clauses Act.

The offence carries a penalty of 40 shillings (around £2), but Cunningham was fined £100 by Manchester Magistrates.

The father-of-two was also banned from driving for 17 months and given an electronic tag, which imposes a curfew between 9pm and 7am for two months.   

The incident occurred at 11.10pm on December 5 when Cunningham was spotted by police sat at the wheel of his van outside the Gorse Hill pub in Stretford, Greater Manchester after a Manchester United football match. 

Prosecutor Carl Miles said: ‘He was first approached by officer PC Walker who believed he had failed to stop after a road traffic collision. 

‘He requested a sample of breath from the defendant for analysis.

‘He refused at first and told the officer that he had a drink five minutes earlier and explained that he had just come out of the pub. 

‘They told him to wait for 15 minutes as they can only take the test 20 minutes after the last drink was consumed.

‘During this time PC Walker was asking him if he had been involved in the accident, or if he had seen anything. 

‘Cunningham replied that he wasn’t involved at all. He then told the defendant that he needed to provide a breath sample. 

‘The officer explained how to blow their device, but the defendant was not blowing at all

‘He wasn’t producing enough breath for the device to read, his blowing was gentle. He made three attempts and nothing was coming of it. 

Officers charged Cunningham (pictured), of Stockport, Greater Manchester, with ‘indecent behaviour at a police station’, from the 1847 Town Police Clauses Act

‘The officers could feel no breath coming through and told him that if he didn’t provide a sample properly, he would be arrested.

‘The defendant was being abusive with them and failing to comply. He tried a further two times but failed to blow an appropriate reading.’ 

Police then arrested him and brought him to the station, believing he was trying to distract officers by giving bad samples.  

Mr Miles continued:  ‘This is when he became mildly abusive. 

‘He told them they were ‘wasting time’ and called them ‘w****s’. 

‘There were many police officers and civil officers around the station at that time. He got more aggressive and said ‘stupid c****s f***** k*** penis w*****’. 

‘They told him he would be facing en entirely new charge for using threatening/abusive language. 

‘The defendant wasn’t intoxicated and didn’t smell of intoxicants. He was taken in for questioning by PC Lomas. He asked him if he had consumed alcohol to which Cunningham replied ‘suck my d***, f*** off’. 

‘The defendant was given a warning and they asked him one last time to provide them a sample of breath, to which he replied ‘buzz off you boring c***’ He made this worse for himself, and got himself into this mess.’ 

Pleading with magistrates Cunningham, who has two children from a previous relationship, said he has one employee working for him but he himself is the only person who drives between the pair of them.

The father-of-two (pictured) was also banned from driving for 17 months and given an electronic tag, which imposes a curfew between 9pm and 7am for two months

Mitigating, Lorna Wincote said: ‘This is an usual failure to provide. He was not involved with the accident whatsoever. 

‘He was not intoxicated at all, the officers did not see that he was swaying, he wasn’t glazed over or anything of that nature to suggest he was over the limit.

‘He had been to the Manchester United football match. It was a European game, which would have been an alcohol free match. 

‘He was sober. He got himself into this state and he didn’t realise the trouble he was causing by failing to provide them with a sample of his breath.

‘Obviously the driving ban will massively affect him and this employee, who cannot drive. 

‘He has essentially cost himself his employment and he is aware of that. He is extremely embarrassed of his actions.

‘He has two young children living in Littleborough who he sees at the weekend, and again this will impact on his time with them too.

‘The impact of all of this, on him, his job and his family will be crushing. He was an absolute idiot to the police and he is guilty of that.

‘This will have a devastating impact.’

Cunningham said: ‘I really am remorseful for what happened. I am guilty for failing to provide a sample of breath but I tried eight times and it wasn’t enough. 

‘I was angry for being arrested. I realise I was completely out of order, bang out of order, but I did try. I accept responsibility for my actions.’

Justice of the Peace Pauline Salisbury told him: ‘My colleague and I were disgusted by your language. This is a great shame. 

‘If you would have complied with the police you wouldn’t be in this mess. 

‘These officers were trying to do their job, they protect the public and you stopped them from doing that. You should have complied.

‘You were incredibly abusive to them and you should be punished for that. You truly used some disgraceful language.’ 

Section 29 of the Town Police Clauses Act says: ‘Every person guilty of any violent or indecent behaviour in any police office or any police station house, within the limits of the special Act, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings for every such offence, or, in the discretion of the justice before whom he is convicted, to imprisonment for a period not exceeding seven days.’  

Cunningham was hauled before magistrates at Manchester and Salford Magistrates court