A police commander who caught a man putting up prostitutes' cards in a telephone box had to take notes on the back of one of the cards, a court heard.

Chief Inspector Stuart Harrison, second in command in Hove and Shoreham division, was on foot patrol as part of a high visibility strategy when he saw Andrew Currie sticking cards in the kiosk in Blatchington Road, Hove.

In a statement read out to Brighton magistrates, Mr Harrison explained he had been on patrol for two hours in the pouring rain and was not wearing waterproof clothing.

When he took out his pocket book to write notes he found it was too wet to use.

He said: "My pocket book had been reduced to a soggy mass of stuck pages. In order to conduct the interview I utilised one of the cards I found during a search I conducted of Currie's clothing."

Currie, 33, of Lennox Street, Brighton, was charged with ten offences of displaying advertisements without consent on March 8.

He failed to appear at court to answer the charges and was convicted of all offences in his absence.

Magistrates fined Currie a total of £500 and ordered him to pay £250 costs.

More than 200 cards Currie had in his possession were confiscated.