A cattle farmer flashed his bottom at Tesco staff after flouting social distancing one-way system rules, a court heard.

Christopher Padget, from Devizes, was spared an immediate spell behind bars after a Swindon judge heard his mental health was suffering at the time of the incident and he was a man of previous good character.

Prosecutor Lucie Stoker told Swindon Crown Court on Tuesday Padget had gone into the Tesco store in Calne at around 7am on April 6.

He ignored one-way markings in the store and, when challenged by staff, became abusive. He kept swearing at a female staff member, calling her rude names. Security staff were called.

As he left the shop, Padget picked up a £2.50 pot of hand cream. Outside, he pulled down his trousers, bent over and pulled his buttocks apart to show the women his anus.

Ms Stoker said: “This was the culmination of a very unpleasant incident that was happening in the shop.”

PC Jamie Bell was first on the scene. He followed Padget’s grey Range Rover Sport as he drove away from the Tesco car park.

His 4x4 slowed down as it approached the roundabout on School Road, but made a u-turn to get away from the two police cars following him.

The nine-minute chase covered roughly five miles, including through the centre of Calne. At points, the officers’ cars hit 80mph on the A4, where a 60mph limit is in place. Padget crossed the central white lines on the road and overtook a car.

The pursuit only came to an end when police deployed a stinger. He told the officers who caught up with him that he would have escaped.

Padget, of Hillworth Road, Devizes, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, outraging public decency and theft.

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Christopher Padget outside Swindon Crown Court

Gregory Gordon, defending, said his client had been diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder when he was 21. During lockdown he had been unable to get his medication or meet with his those who usually supported him.

His behaviour on that April morning was out of character, Mr Gordon said. He was a farmer with hundreds of cattle and employed three people.

Padget himself told the judge: “I’d just like to express my most sincerest apologies to all the Tesco staff, all the police staff and anybody else that was concerned with my behaviour on that day.”

Sentencing him to six months imprisonment suspended for a year, Judge Peter Crabtree told Padget he had put police officers and members of the public at risk “by your speed, by your overtaking and by your disregard for signs, including double white lines”.

The judge added: “It is a pursuit that lasted for five miles including in the centre of Calne and in residential areas when the road conditions were not good, indeed they were poor. While at times the traffic was light at other times it is clear other people were out and about that Sunday morning.”

Padget was banned from driving for 21 months, ordered to pay £200 compensation to each of the two female Tesco employees he flashed and must complete 120 hours of unpaid work.

He must pass an extended retest before he can drive a vehicle.