A Milford man who threatened police officers whilst drunk before struggling with them whilst being arrested has appeared in court.

Twenty-five-year-old Cornelius James Harteveldt, of Richard John Road, pleaded guilty to a charge of using threatening and disorderly behaviour when he appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

Prosecutor Vaughan Pritchard-Jones told the court that the incident occurred on January 6, at around 9.45 pm, when police were called to the Mount Estate to deal with another matter.

“Police responded to reports that somebody was in possession of a knife, it was not the defendant, but officers did not know that, and when they saw Mr. Harteveldt in the area and asked him to show his hands, he walked up to officers, and decided to get in their faces.

“Mr. Harteveldt was clearly drunk. He had saliva hanging from his bottom lip and his eyes were dilated. He was coming across as very anti-police and then adopted a fighting stance in front of them.

“Officers were simply trying to find out what had gone on before, but then were given no choice to arrest the defendant, and he was taken to the floor. It was quite a struggle!” added Mr. Pritchard-Jones.

Defence solicitor Jonathan Webb told the court that there had been some disorder going on nearby, which had nothing to do with the defendant.

“At the time Mr. Harteveldt was approached by police, he was in a tunnel. It was dark and he didn’t know they were police offices to start with. It was a very unsavoury matter, for which he apologises for.”

Addressing magistrates himself, Mr. Harteveldt said that he didn’t remember much about the night itself, but had become defensive as he had been stabbed the previous month.

Magistrates handed him a 12 month conditional discharge and ordered him to pay prosecution costs of £85 and a £20 victim surcharge.