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Abusive comments shouted by a teenager left a transgender police community support officer 'upset and embarrassed' while he was on duty.

PCSO Connor Freel was on patrol in a busy town centre when the remarks were aired.

Declan Armstrong, 19, was given a curfew requirement and ordered to pay £590 at Mold Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday after he was found guilty of making the comments following an earlier trial.

Rhian Jackson, prosecuting, said Mr Freel had been in full uniform on foot patrol in Mold, North Wales, on October 16 last year when he passed Armstrong, who was with friend Chelsea Bassett, Wales Online reports.

The court was told: “Declan then shouted very loudly: ‘Is it a boy or is it a girl?’.” She said when Mr Freel looked over at Armstrong he made the comment loudly again.

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Ms Jackson said: “Due to his transgender when Connor heard Declan say what he said it left him feeling upset and embarrassed.”

In a statement which Ms Jackson read to the court, Mr Freel outlined the work he had done to raise awareness of transphobic hate crime, including being part of a Victim Support campaign and being interviewed on the television. He knew by putting himself in the public eye he may be open to repercussions.

But, he said he wanted to show more vulnerable members of the community that being transgender was not something to hide.

Ms Jackson said: “To have something shouted at him that had such personal connotations whilst he was on his own in the middle of a public place that was rather busy due to market day footfall did leave him vulnerable, distressed, and embarrassed.”

She said it had left him reluctant to undertake foot patrols on his own.

Armstrong, of Victory Court, Mold, was convicted of a public order offence following a trial earlier this month but the court heard he still denied making the comments. Gary Harvey, defending, said: “He doesn’t hold any prejudice against anyone in society.”

The court heard Armstrong, who acts as a carer for a man he considers his father, had been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and suffered from anxiety and depression.

Sentencing, district judge Roger Lowe said the aggravating features of the case were that Mr Freel was performing a public service as a PCSO and the incident was in a busy town centre where other people could hear what was said.

He said the sentence had been uplifted from a low level to a medium-level community order because of its transphobic nature.

Armstrong was ordered to pay £200 compensation to Mr Freel, a £90 victim surcharge, and £300 contribution to the prosecution costs.

He was given a 12-week curfew requirement ordering him to stay at his home address between 9pm and 7am.