Mansfield boozer drank hand sanitiser before threatening nurse in hospital

Leon Nicholls was arrested at Mansfield train station for being drunk and disorderly and taken to hospital on August 19, where he wet himself, Mansfield Magistrates’ Court heard.

Beckie Allsop, prosecuting, said Nicholls was shouting and swearing at staff, before demanding water and drinking two gulps from a bottle of hand sanitiser.

Nicholls, aged 20, warned a nurse: “If you call the police I will punch someone.”

His victim was left “alarmed and distressed” and said: “If he decided to act out his threats I would have come off worse.”

Two days later he was sitting on a wall at the train station when he demanded £2 from a female passer-by. She refused and Nicholls swore at her, before following her for a short while.

In a statement, she said: “He really scared me. I was on my own and I didn't know what he was going to do.”

Half an hour later he yelled that he would “smash” shoppers in Asda and threatened a security guard.

At 8.30pm, police were called to reports of two men fighting and found Nicholls “clearly drunk” and sitting on the ground with a swollen left eye.

The court heard he has 17 previous convictions for 34 offences and was last in trouble in October 2022 when he was jailed.

Nicholls, of Corporation Street, Mansfield, admitted making threats and drunken disorderly behaviour.

Morgan Hogarth, mitigating, said he has a number of disabilities, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and is “severely” epileptic.

He said Nicholls “struggled greatly” when he was introduced to alcohol. His relationship with his mother and stepfather broke down and drunken attempts to make up led him to repeatedly breach a restraining order.

He has shown "significant regret" because he has started to drink again and was remorseful for his behaviour.

Nicholls was handed a 12-month community order with 20 rehabilitation days and ordered to pay £100 compensation to each of the women he threatened.