A Blackpool man has been discharged from court after claiming his words “give us a kiss” were aimed at a police horse, and not its female officer.
Forty-nine-year-old Anthony Pritchard was arrested after being seen walking unsteadily along Lytham Road at about 9.30pm on 20 January.
He had just been ejected from a bus and the driver had contacted the police.
But when PC Debra Owen and her 11-year-old gelding “Lancon” approached Mr Pritchard, he asked for a kiss.
PC Owen told Blackpool magistrates on Thursday: “He was very unsteady on his feet and smelled strongly of alcohol.
“When told he was under arrest Pritchard swore and said, ‘give us a kiss’.“
Mr Prichard pleaded guilty to being drunk and disorderly but said his comment had been aimed at Lancon not his rider.
“I told PC Owen it was a nice horse. I had had horses when I was younger,” he told magistrates.
“When I said give us a kiss, I was talking to the horse.”
The court accepted he had not intended to kiss PC Owen. He was given a six-month conditional discharge.
