AN alcoholic former nurse, who was arrested for wandering on to a train line, then spat in a police officer's face.

Darlington magistrates yesterday saw CCTV footage of the assault, taken from the town's police station.

Darren Lee Foster, 23, of Church Street, Shildon, was shown at the custody desk, naked from the waist up.

He turned to the officer alongside him and spat forcefully at his left cheek.

David Madison, prosecuting, said the incident began when Foster was seen by the railway bridge in Haughton Road, Darlington, at midnight, on August 6

Foster, who was drunk, swore at a railway worker and the police were called. When they arrived, he put his hands on the line then threw his T-shirt off and took an aggressive stance.

After arriving at the station, Foster spat at the officer - who later said in a statement: "I find the act of spitting to be disgusting, degrading, and I was worried about disease in the saliva."

Mr Madison said Foster had drunk three litres of cider during the day, and three to four pints in the evening.

Claire Brinton, mitigating, said Foster was a former high-ranking nurse who had become dependent on alcohol, but has been sober for three weeks.

He has recently moved to Shildon with his partner, who doesn't drink, to get away from Darlington.

"When he's in drink, he's not himself," said Ms Brinton. Foster has already served a jail sentence for assaulting a police officer.

He pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer, resisting a police officer, and trespassing.

He was given 200 hours community service, made to pay £100 compensation to the officer he spat at, and £43 costs.