A MIDNIGHT kick-about after a marathon drinking session has cost a Malvern man £100.

Foul-mouthed reveller Colin Stowe joined a street football game on Graham Road in Malvern as he waited for his pals to buy chips from the Golden Kitchen.

But the late-night kick-around on Sunday, August 20, got out of hand and the police were called.

Pershore traffic division PCs Nick Dickens and Carl Walsh were on mobile patrol just after midnight when their colleague, SC Nathan Pauley, of Malvern police, radioed for back-up.

"They could see a group of men walking in the road," said Julian Harris, prosecuting.

"It was quite clear that they were in high spirits - there were loud voices and bad language was used.

"The defendant was in the middle of the road, he put up two fingers at the officers and shouted obscenities."

PC Walsh bundled Stowe, of Elgar Avenue, into the back of a police van after he continued to swear at his colleagues.

"During the journey it became quite clear that the defendant was drunk," Mr Harris said.

"But this is the first criminal blemish on his character."

Martha Recorden, defending, told the court jobless Stowe had been drinking for eight hours and was so drunk he could not remember lashing out at police.

"He had been out drinking with a group of friends since about 4pm," she told the bench.

"It was a friend's birthday. He was clearly in a boisterous mood at the end of the evening."

She said Stowe, aged 22, spotted a group of lads kicking a football in the road.

"He started kicking the football and shouting along with the other group," Miss Recorden said.

"Police asked them to move on. They did, and began walking down to Church Street. The next thing he recalls is being arrested.

"He accepts that because he had been drinking all afternoon that he was drunk, his behaviour was out of order and he apologises."

Magistrates fined him £50 after he admitted being drunk and disorderly - he had previously denied the charge.

He was also ordered to contribute £50 towards prosecution costs.