Brighton Morrison's police arrest: Marian-Emil Jorascu jailed

Marian-Emil Jorascu went to St James’s Street in Brighton with a weapon during the height of the coronavirus lockdown.

Some witnesses feared the 18-year-old had a sword outside the Morrison’s supermarket, and armed police swooped to arrest him.

He was seen being pinned to the ground by officers while the weapon, which was in fact a metal pole, was taken away as evidence.

It was reported that he had spat at police who were arresting him.

At Brighton Magistrates’ Court it was revealed that in a separate incident Jorascu, a Romanian national, had trashed his hotel room causing £850 worth of damage.

The court heard how the room at The Brighton Hotel in Kings Road was left in a sorry state.

The Brighton Hotel in Kings Road

Jorascu damaged the television, the bed, the bathroom mirror, two bedside tables, a desk chair, and the headboard during a tirade on January 29 this year.

The teenager admitted criminal damage, possession of an offensive weapon in public, namely a metal pole, and assaulting an emergency worker.

The second incident outside Morrisons supermarket happened after 10pm on February 23.

A witness who was in the area told The Argus: "I was walking down St James's Street and I saw this guy outside Morrison's.

"He had something behind his back, it looked like either a samurai sword or a metal pole.

"As I walked past I thought, 'was that a weapon?'. Then a police car drove by."

Marian-Emil Jorascu was jailed over brandishing a metal pole and spitting at police in St James's Street, Brighton

He said the officers appeared to be searching for someone, with the car slowing down to scour the area as it entered the street.

"Two other police cars joined them not long after," the witness said. "Officers pinned a man to the ground and put him in handcuffs and leg restraints. Then they put the weapon in some sort of tube."

He said the man appeared to spit in the face of one of the officers as he was being arrested, but police worked quickly to bring the situation under control.

The witness said: "Police were brilliant - they had it under control in minutes."

At the time, Sussex Police said “We responded to a report of a man with a pole behaving aggressively in central Brighton at 9.45pm on Tuesday, February 23.

“Officers located the suspect in St James's Street where he reportedly spat at officers. A metal pole was seized.”

Jorascu, of no fixed address, was jailed for 12 weeks and was told to pay £100 compensation to the hotel and £25 compensation to an officer he spat at.

• For news updates straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here. And for the latest from the courts, like our dedicated Facebook group here.