DEVIZES darts ace Mark Hiscock has apologised in person to a police officer he verbally abused while drunk and disorderly earlier this month.

Hiscock, 30, of Roseland Avenue, was fined £40 after admitting being drunk and disorderly.

He appeared before Kennet magistrates in Devizes last week.

Anna Humphreys, prosecuting, said that officers were shouted at by a man in a white Ford Escort in the Market Place at about 7.15pm.

Later they came across the same vehicle parked in Station Road and spoke to Hiscock, who was in the back seat, about his abusive language.

They could smell alcohol on his breath, said Miss Humphreys.

The smell was particularly obvious when, in an intimidating way, Hiscock brought his face within an inch of that of an officer, said Miss Humphreys.

She told the court that Hiscock had completed a nine-month period of probation about week before the incident.

Hiscock said he was sorry for his behaviour and told the bench that, when he had seen one of the officers in a shop, he had offered an apology.