A SCUFFLE involving 20 men following a wake in Chester city centre led to one man being arrested for assaulting a police officer, a court heard.

Aidrian Mark Callaghan, 30, claimed he and his brother were assaulted outside the United Services Club on Crook Street after their nan’s funeral on June 21 this year.

The married father-of-two then ended up resisting arrest and lashing out at an officer with the palm of his hand.

At Chester Magistrates Court on Monday (July 8) he pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting an emergency worker and one of using threatening behaviour.

Callaghan, of Lache, was fined £150 and must also pay £50 in compensation to the police officer he attacked.

Alan Currums, prosecuting, said police had been called to the scene in the evening following reports that around 20 men were shouting and pushing each other in the street.

When they arrived, officers approached the defendant who was “bouncing up and down and flailing his arms around”.

One tried to calm Callaghan down but was struck to the side of the head “with an open palm”, whereupon he tried to restrain him, warning him not to resist.

“Or f***ing what?!” Callaghan reportedly replied.

The officer twice had to use knee strikes to the back of the defendant’s legs and it eventually took two officers to restrain him.

“He was shouting about being assaulted by 20 people,” Mr Currums told the court.

Callaghan, who has previous convictions for public order offences and violence, largely made no comment in his police interview but claimed he wasn’t aware the man he struck was a police officer.

Becky Hay, defending, said her client was apologetic and stressed he had been in a very emotional state on the day of the incident.

“It was the wake after his nan’s funeral,” she said. “His brother was knocked out and Mr Callaghan had also been assaulted. When the police attended he was very upset about what was going on.”

The court heard that Callaghan is currently out of work and receives Universal Credit. He suffers with anxiety and depression and possibly has autism or ADHD.

Besides the fine and compensation, he was also ordered to pay £85 court costs and a £30 victim surcharge.