A FATHER has won £4,000 compensation from police after he was sprayed in the face with a police CS device during a family picnic.

David Steele, 32, took advantage of a sunny day by going with his wife, three children and two friends to Claxheugh Rocks, on the banks of the River Wear, at South Hylton, Sunderland, in July 1999.

But Newcastle Crown Court heard how police, who saw him packing up a trials bike he had taken on the trip, approached him and started giving him a "hard time".

Mr Steele's barrister, David Hall, told the court that even after he was incapacitated, with the harmful spray running down his face, Mr Steele was sprayed again.

The court heard the father-of-three was met with a "barrage" of questions after being approached by the plain-clothed officers.

Mr Hall told the court: "For whatever reason, they started to give him a hard time. They obviously did not like him having ridden the bike around that area."

Mr Hall told the court that Mr Steele, of Forest Road, Ford Estate, Sunderland, did eventually rise to the bait and used foul language towards the officers.

The three officers claimed he was sprayed and arrested after making to headbutt one of them. They denied wrongful arrest.

Following a two-day trial and less than two hours deliberation, the jury found that the police were right to arrest Mr Steele, but wrong to use the CS spray.