A NORTHWICH man on the verge of becoming a father for a third time will not be able to see the birth of his child after being jailed by magistrates.

Stuart Andrew Hough, of Grantham Close, admitted to breaching the terms of a suspended sentence and a public order offence after he was found wandering the streets in an intoxicated state by police.

The 35-year-old defendant had been handed a six month custodial sentence back in January after he admitted to charges of driving with excess alcohol, public order and being drunk in charge of a child, but that term had been suspended for 12 months on condition he commit no further offences.

However, Hough was appearing at Chester Magistrates Court on Tuesday, April 20, after breaking the terms of that condition when committing public order offences on March 27.

Alan Currums, prosecuting, explained how police had been called to Alan Street at around 5.50pm to reports of an intoxicated male behaving in a a disorderly manner.

He said: "The defendant was heavily intoxicated and when officers arrived at the scene they tried to establish what he was doing in the area.

"He failed to account for the reasons he was there, although officers later discovered he had been refused entry to a nearby property and had subsequently been wandering the streets.

"He become increasingly irate with officers and swore at one of them, shouting, 'don't be a f***ing p***k'.

Hough continued to shout abuse at officers and generally failed to comply with their requests so was arrested and charged with a section 5 public order offence.

Mr Currums went on to explain how Hough had been made subject of a suspended sentence in January this year after pleading guilty to charges of driving with excess alcohol and for being drunk and in charge of a child.

Scott Phillips, defending, said his client had been embarrassed by his behaviour on the day in question, and explained how he had been feeling emotional as a result of the death of his dog.

Mr Phillips said: "He admits to having had a lot to drink.

"He already has two children and his partner is actually due to be induced tomorrow to give birth to his third child.

"As part of his suspended sentence, he is also subject to a rehabilitation order, which only started in January.

"He has asked that he please be given another chance and rather than activate the suspended sentence, may I suggest giving him extra hours of unpaid work so he see his child being born."

A report from probation said Hough would very much benefit from the rehabilitation requirement under the terms of his existing sentence but how he was unlikely to have that opportunity if magistrates decided to send him to prison.

However, after taking time to consider the mitigating circumstances, magistrates decided to activate the full six month term of Hough's suspended sentence.

He was also fined £80 and must pay prosecution costs of £85.