A man who urinated on a plaque in a war memorial and scratched the word "prick" into the pavement has been jailed for 11 weeks.
John Rocky Ayres, 34, was charged with desecrating the First World War monument in the village of Mangotsfield, South Gloucestershire, on April 26 this year.
Unshaven Ayres, of no fixed abode, accepted he had scratched the word "prick" on the pavement but denied urinating on the memorial.
North Avon magistrates' found his offences to be "so serious" only a custodial sentence was appropriate.
They jailed him for 11 weeks and made an anti-social behaviour order against him for a period of two years.
John Rocky Ayres made a late guilty plea, which the judge took into account when handing him his sentence
The court heard that Ayres, who had been drinking heavily at the time and having problems with his family, was spotted by a passer-by who was outraged by what she saw.
Susan Hibbard said Ayres was standing over a plaque which is about knee height from the ground and contained details of the people who had paid for the granite cross.
The memorial, which is dedicated to the lives of 32 brave soldiers who died during the First World War, was just feet away from where he stood.
She told the court she was driving past the memorial at about 5.45pm when she saw a "stream of urine" coming from Ayres in the direction of the plaque.
"I was going from my home to the park," she said.
"I noticed a man crouched down by the side of the plaque and I wondered what he was doing.
"I slowed right down and I stopped at the roundabout and turned around. That's when I saw him stood there, urinating on the plaque."
Ms Hibbard, who has lived in the village for seven years, said she was angered to the extent that she went back to the war memorial, having beeped at Ayres to show her disapproval.
"It's a very public place and it's full of history, the people who died, and I beeped my horn at him."
After briefly going home, she returned to the war memorial and saw Ayres talking to two men in white shirts and shouted at them about what she had seen.
The men were in fact police in plain clothes who were talking to Ayres about what he had written on the pavement.
They asked Ms Hibbard to pull over and she later provided police with a statement.
Giving his account to the court, Ayres, who cannot read, claimed Ms Hibbard had been mistaken and he "wholeheartedly" denied urinating on the war memorial.
He claimed he was merely trying to adjust the two pairs of trousers he was wearing at the time.
"I had a pair of jogging trousers on and the string was hanging out through the zip and as my trousers were falling down I pulled them up.
"I'm not calling her a liar - it may have seemed that way, but there were also lots of cars around."
Ayres, who is no longer drinking or on any drugs, added that the word "prick" had nothing to do with the war memorial, but was "going out to someone else".
Asked to account for the fact that Ms Hibbard said she saw him urinating, he said: "I honestly, mate, do not have a clue.
"At the end of the day I know I did not do it."
The judge decided that the offence was "so serious" that only a custodial sentence would be appropriate
Ayres originally pleaded not guilty to the charge of outraging public decency, but changed his plea today, accepting he had scratched the word "prick" on the pavement.
But the magistrates wanted to hear further evidence about the urination, after which they said they found Ms Hibbard's evidence to be "entirely credible" and found against Ayres.
The court also heard that Ayres has 30 incidents of anti-social behaviour recorded against him.
Chair of the bench Patricia Manning told him: "We are sending you to prison today for a total period of 11 weeks, having taken into account your late guilty plea.
"It would have been 12 weeks had you not changed your plea to guilty today.
"The offence is so serious only a custodial sentence is justified.
"You urinated on part of a war memorial and defaced the area with obscene words.
"You showed a complete disregard for the local residents and for what the war memorial stands for in the local community.
"You record of committing acts of anti-social behaviour offences against property and your lack of remorse makes your offending particularly distasteful."
Mrs Manning added: "We find you acted in an anti-social manner and people need protecting from anti-social behaviour by you."