A homeless man saw in his 45th birthday in a police cell – after he was found dead drunk behind a canalside pub.

Karl Kuhne had been in front of the Oxford magistrates just hours before he was found outside the Jolly Boatman pub, near Thrupp, on Tuesday evening (July 4).

Members of the public called the ambulance service over fears for the man’s safety, as he appeared to be unconscious.

Both paramedics and, later, police officers attended the scene. Kuhne told the constables to ‘f*** off’, claiming ‘I’m going to fight you’ and asked them to ‘f*** off and leave me alone’.

READ MORE: Person injured after crash in Cowley

The police were reluctant to leave him there, given how close he was to the Oxford Canal. Eventually, he was arrested for being drunk and disorderly.

Appearing before Oxford Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday (July 5), Kuhne, who gave a care of address in Shipton-on-Cherwell, pleaded guilty to being drunk and disorderly. Asked for his plea, he told the clerk of the court simply: “I was there.”

It put him in breach of a community order imposed last week and a conditional discharge, which he was given on Tuesday for disorderly behaviour outside the homeless hostel in Luther Street, Oxford.

Mitigating, Angela Porter told the justices: “It’s his birthday today. Not a very happy one.”

Her client had struggled in recent times. He had suffered a family bereavement, was homeless, and had experienced difficulties with his mental health.

Delays in filing the results from last week’s court case meant he was led a merry dance between probation offices in Bicester and Oxford, with each claiming that his appointment was at the other office.

“For someone who’s homeless, no phone, no one really to help him, the intention of that order was that it should be helpful,” she said of the less-than-helpful experience he had had with probation in the past week.

READ MORE: Rise in arrests at Henley Regatta 

Ms Porter asked the magistrates not to activate the conditional discharge imposed on Tuesday to continue and allow her client to continue to receive help from the probation service.

She said: “Mr Kuhne is really struggling. It seems to me he should get all the help he can.” The advocate added that the defendant was stuck in a ‘revolving door’.

The justices imposed a £100 fine, but deemed it paid as a result of the time the defendant had spent in the cells.

The conditional discharge and community order were allowed to continue.

thisisoxfordshire: Click here to sign up to the Crime and Court newsletter Click here to sign up to the Crime and Court newsletter (Image: Newsquest)