But his solicitor suggested it should never have come to court in the first place. Giles Rowden, prosecuting, said: “Police see the defendant. He has a traffic cone on his head. They go and speak to him. He smells of alcohol. They form the opinion, perhaps not surprisingly, that he’s drunk. When they see him again with the cone on his head and apparently taking selfies of wearing the cone, police lose patience with him. Quite frankly, they have had enough and arrest him for drunk and disorderly” said Mr Rowden.
Sarah Brady, defending, said: “He thought it was funny at the time. It wasn’t upsetting anyone but police told him to stop. He accepts he did carry on with the cone on his head. He wasn’t intending to take it home or anything. He was drunk. It was the early hours. He was in a thoroughly good mood. He thought it was funny. The police disagreed. This is his first and, one hopes, only conviction at the age of 20.” She said the forklift worker had been working since he left college and earned £360 per week.
She added: “He doesn’t think he has a problem with alcohol but intends to stop doing stupid things under the influence of alcohol. He spent a night in the cells. In the old days, when I started, that would have been seen as sufficient by the police who would not have bothered to charge him and bring him to court as well. A fixed penalty notice was not considered either. But here we are. As drunk and disorderly goes this is one of the most harmless I have personally encountered. He’s lost his good name by this jape.” Magistrates handed him a conditional discharge for six months and ordered him to pay £135 costs and a £20 victim surcharge.
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