A MAN has been jailed for three months for calling a court clerk a fat cow.

Jermaine Haslam, 26, was in the public gallery at Teesside Crown Court, and was found guilty by the Recorder of Middlesbrough Peter Fox of contempt.

Haslam, of Sunnyside, Middlesbrough, was arrested over the incident on Wednesday, during the trial of four men and a woman for attempted murder, in which three people were stabbed in a house in Middlesbrough.

The clerk, who was called to give evidence, told the judge, who is presiding over the trial: "I repeated the instruction to leave the court and the group moved towards the exit and court door.

"The judge said that they may as well leave the court building. I addressed the group as a whole to leave the court building.

"His first comment to me was that I had bad breath and that I was a fat cow. He came right up to my face and said it."

Haslam denied making the remark, and said it came from somebody else.

He said in evidence: "She came over to the group but she was talking to me.

"She said 'The judge has ordered you all to leave the building'.

I said 'Why are you telling me, there's another 12 people here?'.

"As we were leaving, somebody said 'Tell the fat cow to f*** off'. I did not say that and I do not know who did."

The judge said it was important that cases could continue without disruption, including disruption to the comfort and well-being of witnesses, and that Haslam's conduct was intimidating to the clerk.

Judge Fox said: "It is therefore to ensure the fair-running of the proceedings, as well as send the right message to others who might be minded as you were that you must have a prison sentence, an immediate one and one of appropriate gravity."