Holloway Road on Saturday nights was turning into a “bear garden”, a court heard.

Magistrate Frank Milton made the observation after seeing a 27-year-old labourer hauled before the courts for assaulting Pc William Moreland.

Highbury Corner Magistrates’ heard the man, from Camden, had tried to accost Pc Moreland as he tried to make an arrest in Nag’s Head.

Asked by Mr Milton if he had been hurt, Pc Moreland assured: “Not much, sir. I think he got the worse end of the bargain.”

The labourer, who was fined £6, was told by the magistrate: “The officer is like the old saying: ‘This animal is very wicked. When it is attacked, it defends itself.’

“He did and I don’t blame him.”

Meanwhile, a 31-year-old woman from the Cally was remanded in custody for a week – for stealing from Kentons radio shop in Islington High Street.

Old Street Magistrates’ heard she took a small radio set, and that she was in desperate hardship with her husband in Pentonville Prison.