IT started off as a night of celebration but drunken prankster Richard Parker's antics with a pool ball could have cost him his big break.Parker had just been picked to play for a local snooker team when he decided to take off his clothes and walk through a hotel bar with a pool-table ball wedged between his buttocks.

IT started off as a night of celebration but drunken prankster Richard Parker's antics with a pool ball could have cost him his big break.

Parker had just been picked to play for a local snooker team when he decided to take off his clothes and walk through a hotel bar with a pool-table ball wedged between his buttocks.

It was behaviour which didn't find favour with the judge, who blackballed him - and sent him to jail for 28 days.

Parker, of Holland Road, Felixstowe, was also fined £260 after the escapade at the Flying Boat bar in the Marlborough Hotel in Sea Road, Felixstowe.

But friends have been shocked by the sentence, which they claim was “very harsh” for a stupid, drunken prank, and said Parker had been to the hotel to apologise for his behaviour and offered £300 for repairs.

The 26-year-old builder carried the pool ball between his buttocks and dropped it in a drip tray at the bar, having previously urinated in the pocket of a pool table.

Appearing at South East Suffolk Magistrates' Court on Wednesday , he pleaded guilty to the offences, which were committed in January, but could not remember what had happened because he was drunk.

Clare Forsdike, prosecuting, said: “This case is one of the most revolting I've ever read about.

“He goes to the pub and drinks 16 pints of lager and some vodka and when he is extremely drunk he drops his pants and trousers and urinates in the pocket of a pool table.

“He then gets a ball, hovered over it while his bottom half was naked and manoeuvred onto the ball so it disappeared into his buttocks. Then he walked to the bar and dropped it into a drip tray.”

District Judge David Cooper said: “You have made a complete fool of yourself and it's your second offence since you were released from prison previously - and that release was on the basis you didn't reoffend.

“I'm sure you are a decent, hard-working man when you are not sizzled with drink and you did apologise and offer to pay the pub for damages. However you must go to prison.”

Parker was given a 28-day prison sentence for criminal damage, failing to surrender to custody and breaching a conditional discharge by obstructing a police officer.

He has also been told to pay £260 to the pub replace the damaged pool table and have the carpet cleaned.

A close friend of Parker's said: “He went to the hotel three times to apologise to the manager and staff and offered £300 to pay for a new cloth for the pool table.

“I think this sentence is very harsh. It was a stupid prank but no-one got hurt.

“Richard's a nice lad and is usually as good as gold. He does like a laugh and likes his drink but he never goes out looking for trouble.”