A DUNFERMLINE man smeared himself with excrement after being arrested for causing a disturbance at a homeless hostel.

Last week, the trial of Louis Curtis had to be postponed when he refused to leave the court cells.

Curtis, 58, took his clothes off in the cells beneath the courtroom as a protest after a row about pens and paper.

When Curtis returned to Dunfermline Sheriff Court he was found guilty of two charges.

Curtis denied that on January 24, at the hostel, he behaved in a threatening and abusive manner by shouting and swearing, throwing furniture and household items out of his flat window, then at Dunfermline police station he smeared excrement on his hands and a wall.

He was also found guilty of wilfully or recklessly destroying or damaging property at the hostel, damaging a fridge and bathroom unit by snapping a gas pipe and throwing a set of drawers.

Curtis admitted throwing his belongings out of his window at the hostel and barricading himself in his room but claimed this had happened after he had been assaulted by another resident.

“I was physically attacked by one of my neighbours who has a drink problem. He had been verbally abusive and bullying,” Curtis told the court.

“At 3.15 in the morning I was tip-toeing about getting my breakfast of organic muesli and soya milk.”

He said he then was punched when his neighbour “jumped at me in the dark”.

The alleged assailant had then gone to those running the hostel trying to put the blame on Curtis, according to the accused, who told the court: “He said to them: ‘There you are, I told you he’s mad.’

“I thought it was time for me to act and take the micky out of him and that I would barricade myself in my room.”

Curtis started throwing all his possessions out of his window, including his mattress, which he intended to jump onto before deciding it was too high.

He was arrested and taken to Dunfermline police station where more bizarre behaviour was to follow.

Curtis, who was representing himself, told the court he took off his custody suit in the police cell and sat on it with a blanket over his head.

He claimed the reason he put excrement on his hands and genitals was to keep warm.

Depute fiscal Dev Kapadia said the cost of returning the cell to a usable state was £100.

After finding Curtis guilty, Sheriff Craig McSherry jailed him for eight months.