A POETRY fan who has admitted drunkenly assaulting a police officer is facing a difficult conversation with his father....who is a retired chief superintendent.

Daniel Clilverd collapsed outside Colchester Police Station in Southway on his way home from a night out in the town centre.

Officers decided they would try to give him a lift to his house in Beaconsfield Avenue, which is less than half a mile away, and tried to help him into the back of a caged police van.

But Clilverd resisted by stopping the door being shut with his legs.

He then grabbed one of the officers by the vest who responded by punching him in the face four times to get him off.

Clilverd was then arrested, handcuffed and had leg restraints applied.

The 32-year-old has absolutely no memory of the incident but believes he had been in a wine bar in town before moving onto a poetry evening at Colchester Arts Centre.

He admitted assaulting an emergency worker at Colchester Magistrates' Court.

Lauren Bond, mitigating, said: "He has absolutely no idea how he ended up in such a state.

"His last memories were going to a wine bar where he had six drinks but then afterwards he totally lost his memory.

"He can piece together parts of the night - his bank statement says he went to a different bar then the Arts Centre for a poetry evening.

"He suspects he was making his way home at the point when he was arrested as he only lives two streets behind the station.

"He doesn't dispute what the police are saying - in fact he has always been very respectful of the police because his father was a chief superintendent in the Metropolitan Police.

Miss Bond said she did not believes the situation could have been avoided had the officer let Clilverd go on his way after declining a lift.

He said: "When I read statements from the officer involved it did concern me there seems to be parts of the incident where he didn't seem to be acting in the execution of his duty.

"The officer said he told him to get in the van but he refused - which is his right and held him to steady him but he is not supposed to put his hands on him at that point.

"In his his statement the officer said after his vest was pulled: 'I started punching him directly in the face as hard as I could with a clenched right fist.'

"It concerns me he has punched him in the face four times.

"He actually didn't know that happened until I told him during a consultation today.

"He woke up with a lump on his head, a cut on his face, a cut on his knee with his shirt ripped and his trousers ripped.

"I do not suggest this has come from the officer, he was clearly intoxicated and may well have fallen.

"He would probably not be in this position if the officer had not tried to force him into the van without the right to do so."

She said Clilverd was yet to tell his father who would be incredibly disappointed and feared he would struggle to get another job in the financial industry having recently been made redundant.

"He has not told his parents yet," she added

"His father is very well respected and high up in the Met Police.

"He knows how utterly ashamed and disgusted his parents are going to be."

Magistrates told Clilverd to stick to poetry in the future and fined him £619.

He must pay a victim surcharge of £61, £85 costs and compensation of £100 to the officer who was not badly hurt.