A CHESTER man who tried to start fights with customers at an Ellesmere Port pub while drunk has been jailed.

Richard Stanton, 31, of Priory Place, pleaded guilty at Chester Magistrates Court on Friday, March 15 to threatening behaviour at The Wheatsheaf Inn on Overpool Road.

Prosecuting, Alan Currums told the court Stanton threatened to take one customer outside and 'smash his face in' during the incident on February 25.

When police arrived at the scene, one customer said he had been headbutted by Stanton in the pub's car park.

Magistrates noted Stanton's previous convictions included cocaine possession, assault, criminal damage and two counts of drink-driving, and that a post-sentence supervision order had expired less than a fortnight before this latest offence was committed.

They sentenced Stanton to eight weeks in jail.

Mr Currums told the court it was at 7.30pm when a witness who worked at The Wheatsheaf Inn saw Stanton at the bar, being verbally abusive and making violent threats to customers.

He was escorted outside and police attended at 7.45pm, when a customer said Stanton had headbutted him, but did not wish to make a formal complaint.

When arrested, Stanton said: "I have not done anything wrong," but when interviewed, he admitted his behaviour was out of order.

A probation report told the court Stanton had earlier been with his father in hospital, had taken him back home, and had arranged to meet a friend.

But he had no means of contacting his friend, and the only thing close to him was a public house.

He consumed alcohol and was a '10 out of 10' on the drunkenness scale.

He suffered from short-term memory loss and did not feel he headbutted anyone, but accepted he had been unsteady on his feet.

Stanton accepted alcohol had played its part in his previous convictions and he had referred himself to Aqua House.

He worked as a supervisor at a warehouse, a supportive partner, and a custodial sentence would lead to the loss of his job and accommodation, the court heard.

Defending, Adam Antoszkiw said Stanton had entered a prompt guilty plea, saying it was "lamentable" Stanton was back in the dock.

He added: "He recognises that alcohol has played a large and significant role in bringing him back before the court."

Mr Antoszkiw suggested a community order as an appropriate sentence.

But magistrates imposed immediate custody. Upon his release, Stanton must pay a £115 victim surcharge.