A SERIAL offender and public nuisance has been put behind bars once again.

Shaun Scanlon is a regular before the courts for breaking the law, and he is well known to court staff who see him often.

The 47-year-old was jailed earlier this year for using threatening behaviour in public, and he is now back in custody for spitting in his police cell.

He was sentenced at Chester Magistrates’ Court on Friday, July 7 after admitting charges of criminal damage, resisting police and being drunk and disorderly in public.

The prosecution case was outlined by Alan Currums, of the Crown Prosecution Service, who explained that all three offences were committed the day prior.

Scanlon was found on Horsemarket Street in the town centre behaving in a drunk and disorderly manner.

When approached by police, he then resisted a constable in the execution of their duty, and he was later taken to Runcorn Custody Suite.

Here, he ‘damaged’ a holding cell belonging to Cheshire Police by spitting in it.

The court heard of Scanlon’s appalling criminal record, with the defendant being jailed in April.

Before then, he was locked up for 12 weeks in February for assaulting a shopkeeper by putting him in a headlock.

He was previously jailed for threatening to stab a friend while intoxicated and brandishing two kitchen knives.

He also has convictions for carrying knives in separate incidents and smashing a window at the Firkin Tap pub on Buttermarket Street.

District judge John McGarva highlighted how the defendant’s shocking criminal record and the severity of the offences meant that he had no option but to recall him to prison.

Scanlon, of no fixed abode, but of Warrington, was sentenced to 14 days in prison.