A POLICE officer was bitten by a man he was trying to arrest in Colne.

PC Nigel Keates needed hospital treatment after being bitten by a man, who is in his 20s, near to the Duke of Lancaster pub in Church Street at 12.30am on Saturday.

PC Keates said he had received reports of a number of men fighting outside the pub and attended with Sgt Kin De Curtis of the Colne and West Craven Neighbourhood Policing Team.

When the officers arrived they said the fighting had stopped but a number of men were stood talking about it.

PC Keates said an elderly couple were trying to pass the men and when he asked one of them to move he took exception to it, started 'windmilling' and punched him several times in the back.

Officers said the man was PAVA sprayed and pushed on to the bonnet of a taxi. As another officer attempted to put handcuffs on the man, PC Keates said he was bitten on the hand, puncturing the skin.

PC Keates, who said it is the second time he has been assaulted in his eight years as an officer, was admitted to Burnley General Hospital where he received immunisation injections for hepatitis, polio an tetanus, as well as antibiotics.

The man was arrested on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly and assaulting a police officer. He was kept in custody overnight but released with a conditional caution.

PC Keates added: "I joined the police to help people. At 54 I'm too old to be being attacked."