A PRANKSTER who squirted a police officer with a water pistol as he drove past in his van was found guilty yesterday of endangering a vehicle.

Road worker Gary Parker - who was sprayed with CS gas by PC Frank Hewison - was fined £100 and ordered to pay £200 costs by Darlington magistrates.

The 27-year-old claimed he accidentally squirted PC Hewison's van with a Super Soaker outside his parent's pub, the Bonny Moor Hen, in Stanhope, County Durham, during his mother's birthday party last August.

Last night his parents, George and Margaret Parker, criticised the Crown Prosecution Service for bringing the charges.

The pair, who had charges for resisting arrest and obstruction against them dropped on Wednesday, said they had endured 12 months of hell.

Parker told the court he had squirted the van as a joke. Witnesses said they were outraged when PC Hewison used CS gas to disable Parker so he could be arrested.

Edward Powell, a customer at the pub, said: "Gary wasn't offering any resistance.

"He was just shocked like everyone else."

Parker, of Bondisle Way, Stanhope, was found guilty on endangering a vehicle by interfering with it.

Afterwards, Mrs Parker said: "The money that has been spent on this case would have been much better spent going to the terminally ill children at the Butterwick hospice.

"We can't believe it went to court.

"It is a complete waste of taxpayers' money."

Inspector George Ledger, of Durham Constabulary, said the court case should serve as a warning to the community that the police will not tolerate any form of anti-social behaviour.