A former soldier who struggles whenever he finds himself in confined spaces, flushed his joggers down a toilet and flooded a police cell.

Geoffrey Hickey, 21, became so aggrieved at being locked in a cell following his arrest on October 5 that he shoved his police jogging bottoms down the cell toilet and repeatedly pulled the flush.

As a result, dirty toilet water cascaded across the floor and seeped under the cell door to the corridor outside.

“It took the officers 30 minutes to clean up the mess,” Crown Prosecutor Sian Vaughan told Haverfordwest magistrates earlier this week.

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Hickey, of Albion House, Pembroke Dock, was arrested by police in relation to an unrelated matter and taken to Haverfordwest police station.

“Because of his intoxicated state, he was put into a cell and given a blanket and clean jogging bottoms,” said Sian Vaughan.

“Thirty minutes later, he placed the jogging bottoms down the toilet.”

But his solicitor, Liam Francis, said Hickey’s actions were the result of PTSD.

“He’d recently finished in the army and felt slightly aggrieved at being arrested,” he said.

“He’d been banging his cell door and pressing the buzzer as he struggles in confined spaces because he suffers from PTSD.

"When no one responded, he got frustrated.”

After admitting the charge of criminal damage, Hickey was ordered to pay a fine and costs totalling £191. This included £40 compensation to Dyfed-Powys Police.