A CONTROVERSIAL Stourbridge publican says magistrates displayed common sense by giving him a conditional discharge for insulting a policeman.
At Dudley Magistrates Court, Wayne Etheridge, aged 41, from Studley Gate, admitted calling Pc Lee Rutter a t**ser during an incident at a Cradley Heath shop in February.
The officer had previously been involved in a court case against Mr Etheridge, who runs The Britannia pub in Wollaston.
The guilty gaffer claimed he was the victim of a personal vendetta and was reacting after Pc Rutter “smirked” at him.
The court heard Mr Etheridge repeated the insult when challenged by the officer and he was charged with using threatening words and behaviour to cause harassment alarm and distress.
Speaking after the case, Mr Etheridge, who was ordered to pay £85 costs, said: “The JPs saw my side of the story, they saw common sense.”
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