Puncher still denies police attack

Daniel Holbrook said he started recording the fracas on his phone because he believed officers were over-reacting, but he claimed he then became a victim of police brutality himself.

Holbrook, 37, of Carlyle Avenue, South Shore, pleaded not guilty to assaulting a police officer but was found guilty of the offence after a trial.

He was sentenced to do 50 hours unpaid work for the community and pay £50 compensation to his victim, £620 costs, a £520 court charge plus £60 victims’ surcharge by Blackpool magistrates.

The court was told that the offence took place during a large-scale public disturbance outside the KFC shop in Blackpool’s Lytham Road, on July 5 this year.

Prosecutor, Jim Mowbray, said that Holbrook became involved in filming the incident. He stood in front of a police vehicle and as an officer went to ask him to move out of the way Holbrook punched him in the side of the head.

Holbrook then became aggressive and tried to resist when officers attempted to arrest him.

Trevor Colebourne, defending, told magistrates: “My client maintains he is innocent.”