Cold and hungry homeless man screamed and swore in Mansfield to get shelter

Police were called to Noel Street where Dzintars Baugeris leant against a wall ‘making no sense, slurring his words and unsteady on his feet,’ at 4.40am, on March 19.

When officers tried to get his name, Baugeris, aged 48, told them to f*** off numerous times and they arrested him, magistrates were told.

The court offence put him in breach of a suspended sentence, imposed in December 2021 for a racially-aggravated public order offence, and at risk of being sent to prison.

Nicola Thorpe, mitigating, said: “He was homeless at the time and he was drinking to keep warm and help him sleep. He was cold and hungry and thought that if he got arrested he would have a cell for the night and would get a meal.

"He didn’t realise that matters would escalate. He is extremely sorry. He was in a very bad place at the time but has done a lot since to turn his life around.”

Ms Thorpe said Baugeris ‘lost everything that he had.’

He moved out from the family home after a dispute with his wife and was working as mechanic from his car until she took it from him. His mother recently died of Covid.

She said he had been sleeping near a local church and lost some teeth after he was assaulted.

“A lady at the church offered him a room and when he gets his benefits in place he will pay her rent,” Ms Thorpe said. “In return he is helping with elderly parishioners.

“He hasn't had any alcohol for two months and is hoping to get his passport so he can get work.

"If he is sent to prison he will lose the room and be back at square one.”

Baugeris, now of Wood Street, Mansfield, admitted being drunk and disorderly in a public place, via a Latvian interpreter, when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on April 11.

On Thursday, the operational period of his suspended sentence was extended by three months.

He was fined £120, a £34 surcharge and £50 costs, which will be added to the £1,006 he already owes the court.