A 64-year-old former bus driver was given a conditional discharge after he was found guilty of giving a police officer ‘the birdie’.Ewart James, a resident of the Salvation Army Shelter, was convicted of using offensive behaviour in a public place on September 22.Police Inspector Andy Morgan told Magistrates’ Court he was driving along Cavendish Road at around 2.50pm that day when he saw James on the sidewalk. As he drove past, he said he saw James lift his arm and middle finger towards him.The officer pulled his vehicle alongside James to caution him on his behaviour.James responded: “Next time I will stick two fingers up your a**.”Insp Morgan said he found the behaviour offensive, and arrested James.James denied raising his middle finger towards the officer he said he was only hailing a friend in a passing bus.In a statement which Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner described as “rambling and incoherent,” James claimed that Insp Morgan said nothing at all to him prior to the arrest.“He put the grips on me and said ‘I’m going to take you in,’” James told the court. “Everything else was said in the police station.”Crown counsel Geoffrey Faiella chose not to cross-examine James.Mr Warner ruled that James had in fact given Insp Morgan “the birdie”. He sentenced James to one year of probation, warning him: “Behave yourself.”