A man was so drunk he challenged cops to “f**king chase him” before claiming to be positive for Covid-19 and spitting on officers.

Around 1am on March 19 last year, cops were called out to Eglinton Court in Glasgow’s Southside after calls of a disturbance.

When they arrived at the scene they saw Andrew McCluskey in the road shouting: “Come on and f***ing” chase me.”

Glasgow Sheriff Court heard last week that officers told him to stop walking and stand still but instead he bolted.

The 29-year-old ran into a bush and straight into a metal fence, which stopped his progress.

Police managed to catch him and he was handcuffed and taken to Greenock police station.

While in the police van on the way there, he told officers he had tested positive for Covid-19 while spitting at them, shouting and swearing.

McCluskey was also banging his head off the cell van's walls.

His defence brief said: “This was an unpleasant incident and he accepts that.

“He is very ashamed, especially the spitting, given the time.”

The lawyer told the court that McCluskey was “heavily intoxicated with alcohol".

The solicitor added: “He had recently broken up with his partner and had a falling out with a friend and got very drunk but he accepts that’s no excuse for his behaviour.”

The court was told McCluskey, from Pollokshaws, has a short record of previous convictions and is hoping to retrain as an accountant.

Sheriff Simone Sweeney placed McCluskey on a structured deferred sentence and ordered him to return to court in four months.