‘I spent two years clearing my title after police slapped me with a ‘mini ASBO’ for DOG POO – however I’ve had the final snicker’

The owner of a set of seaside apartments has spent nearly two years clearing his name after being slapped with a ‘mini ASBO’ – when he was accused of not picking up dog poo.

Brendan O’Rourke has received an apology from council chiefs in Blackpool after they took back the Community Protection Warning (CPW) alleging he had been ‘causing persistent detriment to the local area’.

He claimed that he the warning had been levelled incorrectly against himself and his elderly parents after a neighbour row on his lane got out of hand.

The hard-fought win has been the result of a one-man mission that saw him getting advice from across the country over a period where he also suffered personal tragedy.

But Mr O’Rourke, who runs Sunny Dee’s Holiday Apartments in the seaside town, is still under pressure from Lancashire Constabulary as the force has been referred to its standards watchdog over their handling of the CPW.

He told MailOnline: ‘When I read that notice I was so furious that the conditions were just so absolutely draconian. Dog poo is not a police matter.

‘I think of Alan Bates – he’s such an inspiration for people battling systems like these. I don’t think there was enough evidence for any kind of public order.

‘The council would just give you a ticket for dog pooing if they had evidence and they weren’t even involved in this process. They didn’t know nothing about it, the dog wardens.

‘My dad passed away in May – when I showed him the file, he was delighted that I was tackling it.

‘I’m not saying it was practically on his deathbed, but it wasn’t that long before he was just pleased that I was sticking up for the family, the dog, and tackling the council and police.

‘I am proud. I think about him every day, because it’s still very raw, of course, and I think I’m doing this for him as well. They still muddied my mom’s name and my dad’s name.’

Mr O’Rourke claims the dispute between himself and the owners of a neighbouring hotel was sparked after a petty squabble over where to hold meetings for the Blackpool Accommodation for Gays (BAGs) meetings.

This spiraled into a cold war after he objected to them putting up a ‘ridiculous’ sign in their shared back alley. 

About 18 months later the hotelier’s dog Max escaped through his rear-facing door and – as he chased after the rescue Doberman pup – it squatted to defecate outside the gate of his warring neighbour.

He continued: ‘I have to say at the time we had a laugh about it, joking he’d done it on purpose.

‘I went down to go and pick it up, as I would absolutely anywhere, and was confronted by one of them who just picked an argument. He shouted at me: ‘You’d better pick that up now.’

‘As I was picking it up I should have just walked away but I didn’t – I hadn’t spoken to them for 18 months. I just let rip with what I thought about them spitting on me.

‘Then, out of the blue, this mini ASBO arrives via the police at my front door. Yeah, we had an argument. I’m sorry we did. We both swore each other.

‘As far as I was concerned it was just tit for tat – handbags at dawn – let’s just shake hands and get over it.’

The police order said Mr O’Rourke, his family and any of his associates were banned from engaging or threatening to engage in ‘in any behaviours which may cause harassment, alarm or distress to any resident, visitor or worker in the locality’.

They also banned them from foul, abusive, threatening, aggressive or discriminatory language, or from being or threatening violence.

It also said the hotelier – who has been recognised by a Blackpool initiative for litter picking along the beach – must ‘clean up any dog faeces when walking your dog or allowing your dog outside or when visitors attend your address their dog(s)’.

The notice was ‘revoked with immediate effect’ after the council’s Assistant Director of Community and Environmental Services, Lisa Arnold, found ‘maladministration’ in it being issued.

In a letter to Mr O’Rourke, she admitted that the ‘mini ASBO’ was issued after the police officer’s information was taken ‘at face value’.

She said: ‘Given that the service does not have this evidence and did not seek to verify the information on the request form, I share the concern that you are raising in regard to a CPW being issued by Blackpool Council without an officer of the organisation seeing the evidence.

‘Whilst the service will be will no longer be issuing CPWs at the request of the police, they do also issue them at the request of other partner organisations and Council services.

‘Therefore, as a result of your complaint this process will be reviewed to ensure that the evidence is always seen and objectively considered by the officer serving the CPW or CPN and further cross checked independently by another officer within the team with a full audit trail implemented to ensure a fair and transparent process in future.’

Mr O’Rourke responded: ‘To my absolute shock, what really opened a can of worms was the statement she sent that the police officer had given her and this pro forma form that the council just rubber stamped with no evidence, no investigation, not followed any statutory guidance or legislation whatsoever.

‘I’ve had mine canceled, and it was revoked immediately, but it’s taken me months and months and months. I’ve taken my eye off the business, it’s been very stressful.

‘I just feel sorry for someone else that has been through this, but they don’t know what to do.

‘So many councils – people say they’re handing them out like confetti.

Mr O’Rourke says that Max is a ‘little celebrity’ in the area, and he has had the support of local dog walking groups as he battled.]

A doberman, he is his third rescue dog who he got when he was just eight months old – he is now nearly four, and he says he is ‘the most loving, daftest, softest boy you could ever meet’.

He continued: ‘I was so angry. I did a lot of research through Google and came across Sheffield Hallam University, the Helen Kennedy Center for criminal justice, and also got some advice from Liberty online and also the manifesto club based out in Waterloo.

‘I’m pleased that the council element has ended, but what’s annoying is that the police side. It’s been a year now since I alleged the misconduct complaint, a full year, and that’s plus six months from when it first complaint went in about the whole silly scenario. It’s just really dragging on.

‘It’s been infuriating. I don’t know. I just it makes me want to just try and help people.’

Blackpool Constabulary said: ‘This is being reviewed by our professional standards dept so it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment at this stage.’