A man subjected a female police officer to a barrage of homophobic and transphobic abuse as she was transporting him to a Blackburn police station.

Blackburn magistrates heard Ali Awsaf repeatedly called the officer a "ladyboy", said her testosterone level was too high and said she would never be a woman.

He told her to keep getting the surgery and mess up her body and then started calling her names like "Steve" and "John".

The officer said the incident had left her shocked and deeply distressed.

Awsaf, 29, of Clegg Street, Haslingden, pleaded guilty to using threatening behaviour.

He was made subject to a community order for 12 months with 20 days of rehabilitation activity requirement and 10 hours of unpaid work.

He was also ordered to pay the officer £200 compensation.

District Judge Alexandra Preston said the offence had been "nasty and prolonged" offence against an officer who was simply doing her job.

"You launched a tirade of discriminatory abuse and I think you need to deal with underlying homophobic and transphobic beliefs," she said.

Susheela Regalia, prosecuting, said police had been called to a report of a domestic incident in Haslingden and Awsaf was arrested.

The victim's only part in the incident was to transport Awsaf to Greenbank Police Station in Blackburn.

"Me continued to make abusive comments about the victim's perceived sexuality throughout the journey," said Miss Regala.

Rumhan Hanna, defending, said his client had been arrested for criminal damage but nothing came of that.

"He says he was agitated by the whole situation," said Mr Hanna.

"He doesn't seek to make any excuses for his behaviour."