Watford man thought he was dying and being spoken to by angels during visit to King’s Lynn, court hears

A man claimed he thought he had died and was being spoken to by angels during an encounter with police that saw him wind up in court.

Mohammad Saddique, 37, appeared at Lynn Magistrates’ Court on Thursday charged with using threatening words or behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress – an offence he pleaded guilty to.

He committed it on July 17 during a trip to the town. Crown prosecutor Colette Harper told magistrates that on that date, Saddique was spotted shouting loudly on Southgate Street in the early hours of the morning.

Police attended, and found the defendant a short way away at 1am. He was stumbling at the scene, and was asked to stop shouting – but he refused to comply.

Officers felt that he was “clearly drunk” and he was not communicating in a “useful way”, according to Ms Harper.

Saddique then asked to make a phone call to Allah through the officers, before becoming aggressive towards them and being arrested.

While in custody, he was asked to conduct an alcohol breath test, but he returned a reading of just 10mcg per 100ml of breath, meaning he was not legally drunk.

Appearing in court unrepresented, Saddique told magistrates that at the time of his offence, he thought he was “dying”.

“I was mentioning Islam and stuff. I thought angels were asking me questions,” he said.

“They asked ‘who is your lord?’ I said Allah. I thought they asked my religion.

“I do fundamentally believe in my religion. I was very confused myself – that is why I was saying ‘show me the way’.

“I thought I had died and I was trying to find my way to my grave or something. It was very scary.

“Sometimes my mind talks to me.”

Saddique, of Mildred Avenue in Watford, Hertfordshire, also argued that police “should have left me alone” because they “didn’t know how to deal with me”.

Magistrates, led by Alan Hayes, fined him £281 for the offence. He will also pay £105 in legal costs and a £112 victim surcharge.

This adds to the 20 previous convictions he had on his record.