A MAN smashed a sliding door at Wrexham police station reception in order to try and get help because he said he had chest pains.

Later, after being bailed from Mold police station, Andrew Henry Brereton refused to leave and struggled with officers.

It was described as an unusual case by defending solicitor Euros Jones, who said that his client had mental health problems.

Brereton, 37, of Gorse Farm, Worthenbury near Wrexham, had earlier admitted damage at Wrexham police station on July 28 and then violent behaviour in Mold police station.

He was placed on a six month community order with 20 days rehabilitation and £300 costs. Magistrates also ordered him to pay £100 compensation to custody officer Gareth Williams who was said to have been punched to the face.

Mr Jones said that his client had initially tried to get to Wrexham police station to get help because he said he had chest pains.

He spoke to an operator in Colwyn Bay who explained that there was no one available to help hm but he struck out at the window and caused damage to try and get assistance.

Police attended and arrested him and because of flood damage he and other prisoners were taken to Mold.

When he was bailed he was told he could phone his father to get a lift but there was no reply.

He took the view that the police had taken him to Mold and that they could take him back to Wrexham.

The defendant agreed that he struggled and after viewing CCTV he accepted that he had been flailing his arms about and that a custody officer had been recklessly struck.

Historically, he had been under the care of mental health services and at one stage had been cared for in Telford.

But he had to leave and when he came back to the Wrexham area the offences were committed.

Prosecutor Rhian Jackson said that in interview the defendant claimed that the damage to the Wrexham police station door had been an accident and he was annoyed at being charged.

He was given every assistance when bailed at Mold but he would not leave, and said officers should either give him a lift home or lock him up.

Brereton struggled with officers and unusually had to be forcibly removed from the custody suite after he had been bailed and told he was free to leave.

During the struggle, which lasted several minutes, a custody officer was punched to the left jaw and received two further blows to his ear causing pain and redness, she said.