A CHICKEN factory worker elbowed a police officer in the face after he was thrown out of a Hereford nightclub.

Aram Ahmad admitted assaulting a police officer by beating and being drunk and disorderly when he appeared before magistrates in Hereford.

The 30-year-old had been thrown out of The Venue nightclub in Hereford when he came to the attention of police on January 1, prosecutor Melanie Winterflood said.

"It seems that having been ejected, officers tried to speak to him, but communication was difficult as he was behaving in an aggressive manner and was drunk" Miss Winterflood said of Ahmad, who appeared before the court with a Kurdish interpreter.

Ahmad was asked to leave the area but failed to do so, with officers saying that they accepted there was a language barrier, but that he was aggressive and irrational, shouting and screaming and making a threat of self-harm by taking his keys between his knuckles, holding them up to his eye, and indicating he was going to do himself harm.

Officers tried to restrain him as they were concerned for his safety, but Ahmad started flailing his arms around, hitting one officer in the face with his elbow and causing his nose to bleed.

"It is believed to have been accidental," Miss Winterflood said.

In interview, Ahmad said he was upset that he had been told to leave the club but that he had not intended to hurt anyone and apologised for his behaviour.

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Marilena Di Vitantonio, for Avara employee Ahmad, said there was not much she could add to the what had already been said.

"He maintains what he said in interview," she said.

"He did not understand and was upset that he had been told to leave the club. He flailed his arms and that reckless action caught the officer on the nose."

Ahmad, of Commercial Road, Hereford, was ordered to pay compensation of £75, fined £400, and must pay costs of £135 and a £160 victim surcharge.