A MAN who pretended to be a police officer during an altercation with a fellow traveller at Weston station has been given a community order.

David Hough was arrested on July 6 after getting into a fight with Omata Douglas over a newspaper, and then, pretending to be a police officer, cautioned him.

At North Somerset Courthouse on January 13, the court heard that the argument had started when Hough picked up a newspaper which belonged to Weston resident Mr Douglas.

When Mr Douglas took the newspaper back, Hough became aggressive and pushed him, before saying: “I am a police officer, and I’m going to arrest you for assault”.

When police officers were called to the scene by a member of the public, Hough was arrested on two counts, one of battery and one of impersonating a police officer.

He originally entered a plea of not guilty, but changed it to a guilty plea two days before the hearing.

The 24-year-old said that since the incident he had been forced to resign from his job as a train manager for First Great Western Link in August, and had been unemployed since.

He also said due to his conviction he would be unable to work with children or with sports teams, and had already been forced to give up being a Saturday league football referee.

Magistrate Joy Yeates said that the sentence, which could have carried a maximum sentence of six months in jail, had been affected by Hough’s change of mind in entering a guilty plea.

Hough, currently of Regency Road, Malvern, was given a 12 month community order and 70 hours of unpaid work.