Man speaks during court hearing from custody to call police officer a ‘dirtbird’

Aiden Muir received a three month prison sentence for assaults on the constable and his PSNI colleague earlier this year.

Prosecutors said the 25-year-old, of Westrock Park in the city, also spat at one of the officers and repeatedly shouted: “You’re all just motherf*****s.” Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard police called to a house in the Limestone Road area on April 30 informed Muir that he was no longer welcome.

He responded with a string of profanities and ignored all attempts to reason with him.

Outside the property he squared up to one of the officers who restrained and took him to the ground. According to a Crown lawyer Muir locked his arm around the policeman’s neck as they grappled.

At one point the constable sliced his hand on a glass bottle the defendant was carrying. He later received six stitches in the wound which the prosecution accepted had been inflicted accidentally.

But the court was also told that when the defendant was taken into a police van he spat at one of the officers, landing on his leg.

During the hearing Muir, who appeared remotely from custody, interjected to claim: “When he cut his hand he wiped the blood all over me, the dirtbird.”

Defence barrister Michael Boyd described his client’s behaviour as “unpleasant and unsavoury”.

Muir was convicted of disorderly behaviour and two counts of assault on police.

District Judge George Connor imposed a total jail term of three months to cover all of the offences.