JURORS have watched CCTV footage of an off-duty policeman allegedly assaulting a young man.

PC Paul Malpus is alleged to have attacked Leigh Allen, 20, as they travelled on a train from Liverpool to Chester.

Liverpool Crown Court heard he then tried to “clothe his actions in a cloak of respectability” by arresting Mr Allen for violence.

But suspicions fell on Malpus after other train passengers contacted the police to report his behaviour.

Malpus, 36, of Grosvenor Road, Wallasey, denies assault occasioning actual bodily harm and perverting the course of justice on February 22, last year.

He claims he was acting in self-defence.

But Philip Boyd, prosecuting, told the jury of 10 men and two women it was Malpus who was the “aggressor”.

He told the court Mr Allen, who had been drinking, claimed to recognise Malpus, who became annoyed.

It is alleged Malpus hit and punched Mr Allen who retaliated by hitting Malpus with a bottle. Malpus pushed him off the train and had him arrested at Birkenhead Hamilton Square.

The trial continues.