Page last updated at 17:36 GMT, Monday, 24 November 2008

Man jailed for Spiderpig insults

Homer Simpson (credit: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation)
Homer sings Spiderpig in the Simpsons Movie

A man has been jailed for breaching the peace by singing Spiderpig from The Simpsons Movie at police officers.

David Mullen was sentenced to three months for the incident and calling an officer "ginger" in a police van.

Mullen, 22, from Blairgowrie, claimed he was singing the ditty, performed by Homer in the cartoon, because it was the ringtone on his mobile phone.

He was given a further eight months in prison for assaulting a police officer and breaching a curfew while on bail.

'Appalling road'

Homer sings Spiderpig to the theme of Spiderman while walking a pig across the ceiling in The Simpsons Movie.

Mullen sang the song to officers on 25 July while sitting in the back of a police van after being involved in a fight in Blairgowrie, Perthshire.

Solicitor Paul Ralph, defending, said: "He started the song and that was the origin of the joke, but things went further. He felt he had not done anything to be apprehended for."

Mullen breached his curfew on 30 October and assaulted a police officer on 2 November.

Mr Ralph told Perth Sheriff Court that Mullen, of Harriet Row, had been abusing alcohol since the age of 12.

Sheriff Robert McCreadie said: "It is tragic that you have taken alcohol for almost half of your life. You have a dreadful record for a man of 22.

"It is now your decision if you want to continue down the tragic and appalling road you have chosen for yourself."

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