A SUSPECT has been named by the courts after being charged with threatening a policeman with a hammer in public.

Christopher Doyle will appear before the courts after being charged with seven offences.

The 39-year-old, of Rolleston Street in Bewsey, has been charged with two counts of threatening a person with an offensive weapon in a public place and one of possessing an offensive weapon in a public place.

He also faces three counts of theft from a shop and one of failing to provide a sample for a class A drug test.

The weapon offences are alleged to have occurred on Friday on Parr Street in Howley, against a detective sergeant and another man, and involving a hammer.

It is alleged that Doyle ‘unlawfully and intentionally threatened them in such a way that they would think that there was an immediate risk of physical harm’.

The theft charges allege that he stole goods from Tesco Express and Co-op stores in Warrington to the value of £85.55, as well as an iPad from WeeCharity.

A final charge alleges that, at Runcorn Custody Suite after being arrested, he failed without good cause to provide a sample for the purpose of ascertaining whether he had a class A drug in his body.

Doyle is due to make a first appearance in relation to the charges before Chester Magistrates’ Court today, Monday.