A DEPUTY district judge who is facing trial accused of being drunk and disorderly said yesterday that the allegations were "ludicrous".

David Messenger, 49, will appear before magistrates in September for a two-day trial accused of being drunk and disorderly following an incident at a kebab shop in Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

Mr Messenger, a district judge who sits in civil cases and who has been a solicitor in the resort for 24 years, was arrested and spent a night in police cells after becoming embroiled in a dispute involving two men at the kebab shop in the resort on Friday, May 2.

Yesterday, Mr Messenger said: ''The whole thing is ludicrous. I cannot believe it has gone this far.

"I was not drunk and I was not disorderly. I was in a private area of the premises dealing with one of my clients."

Mr Messenger appeared for a brief hearing at York Magistrates' Court yesterday, when a trial was fixed for Tuesday, September 23.

It will take place at Selby Magistrates' Court.