A MAN ‘trying to keep the peace’ and be a good citizen when early hours trouble erupted at a party ended up in police cells, a court heard.

Michael Talbot, 26, had been restraining an irate teenage girl in the garden of the house, in Bacup, as the 17-year-old shouted death threats. But, when police arrived, he refused to hand over the girl, lashed out and hit an officer in the chest, Burnley magistrates were told.

Talbot wouldn’t calm down, was eventually struck by the officers and was detained. His solicitor Janet Sime told the bench: “He didn’t feel he had done anything to warrant him being arrested.”

The defendant, of Sandfield Road, Bacup, admitted resisting police and assaulting a police officer, on May 2.

He was given a six-month conditional discharge, and must pay £85 costs, and a £15 victim surcharge.