A MAN who went out drinking after learning about the death of relatives from bird flu has appeared in court.

Magistrates sitting at Darlington Court yesterday heard how 26-year-old Ali Abdullah Kadir became drunk and abusive to staff at a Darlington nightclub last Friday.

Kadir, of Herbert Street, had been thrown out of Escapade nightclub, in Gladstone Street, for putting his feet on a table.

David Maddison, prosecuting, told the court that police officers found Kadir outside the club in a drunken state.

He was shouting and swearing at the doorstaff, so the officers decided to arrest him.

As the officers led him to the police vehicle, he began to struggle.

Mr Maddison said: "He is described as pulling his arms away.

"As they attempted to control him, he fell to the ground and on the ground he continued to refuse to co-operate."

Kadir, who represented himself and spoke through an interpreter, said he never normally drank.

However, he had just learned that his brother and niece who lived in Kurdistan, in North Iraq, had been killed by bird flu.

He said: "When I heard that, I was really, really upset and went to the nightclub.

"I'd heard it on the media and later they called me on the telephone and I got very, very upset.

"I really do apologise for what I did, it's something which will not happen again."

Kadir pleaded guilty to being drunk and disorderly and resisting arrest.

The chairman of the bench, Margaret Cunningham, sentenced Kadir to a £50 fine for each charge and ordered him to pay £34 costs.

She said: "You've given an early guilty plea and expressed your remorse."