By A man who urinated on a war memorial and gouged an obscenity in the pavement nearby has been jailed for 11 weeks.
The Mangotsfield War Memorial (Picture: SWNS)Rocky Ayres, 34, relieved himself on the First World War monument in the village of Mangotsfield, near Bristol, in broad daylight.
He also scratched the word 'p****' on the pavement next to the granite memorial to the fallen dead.
Scruffy Ayres had denied one count of outraging public decency at North Avon Magistrates Court but pleading guilty at the last minute on Friday.
Rocky Ayres, 34, who has been jailed for 11 weeks for urinating on the war memorial (Picture: SWNS)Chair of the Magistrates Patricia Manning said: "You urinated on part of a war memorial and defaced the area with obscene words.
"You showed a complete disregard for local residents and for what the war memorial stands for in the local community.
"Your record of committing acts of antisocial behaviour and offences against property and your lack of remorse makes your offence particularly distasteful."
The defendant, of no fixed address, shuffled into the dock wearing a black tracksuit and was black bomber jacket, and shook his head as he was led away to the cells.
Mangotsfield's granite cross, set on an octagonal plinth, is dedicated to the lives of 32 brave soldiers who died during the First World War.
The names of the benefactors who helped pay for the huge cross are recorded on a bronze plaque, set on a knee-high stone, which Ayres urinated on.
Eyewitness Susan Hibbard, who has lived in the village for seven years, was driving past when she saw Ayres commit the offence at 5.45pm on April 26 this year.
She saw him squatting down by the plaque and later watched him stand up with a stream of urine flowing from between his hands.
Mrs Hibbard told the court in Yate, near Bristol: "I was very very angry - it's a very public place that's certainly about where it is.
"It is not nice, it is full of history there."
Edward Hetherington, prosecuting, said Ayres has more than 30 incidents of indecent behaviour in his file.
He read out part of a statement by Detention Officer Alex Klaar, which said Ayres has a history of open masturbation and making sexual comments to staff whenever he is incarcerated.
Guy Percival, defending, argued that Ayres had changed his ways and was not drinking any more.
In a statement given to police, Ayres claimed: "I whole-heartedly deny urinating on a war memorial. I did urinate in public.
"I was wearing two pairs of trousers that day, and I was simply adjusting the draw string on one of the pairs."
He told the officer who arrested him that he carved the word into the pavement because "it's about the pricks who would not help me".
The Mangotsfield memorial hit the headlines back in 2008 after the daughter of a Second World War pilot was taken to court for defending it against rampaging yobs.
Ayres was also slapped with an ASBO banning him using offensive language or behaviour in the area for a period of two years.
