A CHEF who became the first person in a North county to be shot by police firing plastic bullets has been fined £100.

Chef Steven Evers was brought down by a baton round, which is more commonly known as a plastic bullet, as he brandished two knives in the street.

Evers, 21, of Favenfield Road, Thirsk, North Yorkshire, was due to deny two counts of possessing an offensive weapon and affray at Richmond Magistrates' Court yesterday.

However, the Crown Prosecution Service withdrew the charges. Instead, Evers pleaded guilty to threatening behaviour on August 13.

As well as the £100 fine, he was ordered to pay £55 costs.

The court heard that Evers summoned police himself and, when officers arrived, they found him near his home with two knives and threatening to harm himself.

David Smee, in mitigation, said Evers had no previous convictions for violence and that his actions were the result of acute depression.

He said: "He never threatened to harm anyone else and yet he was sprayed with CS gas and had a police dog set on him, which was injured as he tried to protect himself. He was then shot in the back with a plastic bullet."

After the hearing, a North Yorkshire police spokesman defended the use of the baton round.

He said: "In the interests of the police, the public and, not least Mr Evers, the decision was taken that he should be disarmed and restrained so he could be given the help he so clearly needed."