A LONER defecated on the floor of his custody cell at Basingstoke police station as a form of protest, a court was told.

Leonard Dicker, who had blocked the observation hole on his cell door, then told police: “Wait until you have seen the treat that I have left you.”

Dicker, of Pinkerton Road, South Ham, was at Winchester Crown Court today for sentence having admitted five offences.

They included the theft of two Royal British Legion collection boxes from a petrol station and a McDonald’s restaurant in Fleet on October 29 last year.

The 36-year-old, also known as Leonard Romaine, admitted breaching a suspended sentence he received in March 2012 for the burglary of the Winchester Road Dental Practice, in Winchester Road, Basingstoke.

He also admitted criminal damage and violence on police property that took place on December 12 last year.

Edward Elton, prosecuting, said Dicker was in the custody suite at Basingstoke police station, in London Road, having been arrested for a matter that did not come to court.

As well as his dirty protest, Dicker also urinated under the cell door and threatened to bite the face of Detective Constable Simon Quickfall, who wanted to interview him.

Mr Elton added: “It took £40 and a specialist cleaner to make good his behaviour.”

John Evans, defending, said Dicker had previously been arrested “three or four” times by officers in Basingstoke, only to be released without charge.

He said: “He came to the view that Basingstoke officers were singling him out and this was his form of protest. In the cold light of day he accepts it was extremely unpleasant.”

Mr Evans added Dicker lived in a bedsit, relied on jobseeker’s allowance and had become “socially isolated” from his friends and family.

Recorder Simon Foster called Dicker, who has 42 previous convictions, “a substantial nuisance”.

He sentenced him to a 12-month community order, with supervision and programme requirements, and 40 hours unpaid work.