A man who threatened to stab a police officer after grabbing him 'near the crotch' has escaped jail.

Ciaran Devlin admitted assaulting a police officer on February 24 when they attended Carrow Road around 10.15pm.

Devlin, 26, was standing in the middle of the road when police arrived.

He began swearing at them and was arrested.

Prosecutor Stuart Cowen said: "Due to his behaviour he was put on the ground and, struggling, he grabbed the police officer near his crotch several times.

"He kept threatening to stab the officer the next day but the officer did not take these threats seriously."

The court heard Devlin has four previous convictions for assaulting police officers.

Claire Edgler, mitigating for Devlin, said all his offending is "against an alcohol background".

She said he had moved to Norfolk from Glasgow in November 2017.

"It is a deprived area and he struggled to find work," she said.

"If you are not in work the tendency is people drift into criminality and he wanted to get out of that circle in life."

She said in February his mother was very ill with a blood clot in the brain, and Devlin did not have the funds to travel to see her.

"Everything got on top of him and he turned to alcohol as a crutch," she said.

"He has very little recollection of this."

The court heard Devlin is now in work as an accounts manager.

Devlin, of Clarence Road, was given 12 weeks in prison suspended for 12 months, and ordered to complete 25 rehabilitation days.

He will pay £85 court costs and a £115 victim surcharge.