An argument quickly escalated between Lee Gaudoin and Neil Edwards-Cecil over a duck

Two friends fell out after a 40th birthday party in a row about a duck they rescued from McDonald’s.

Lee Gaudoin, 31, and Neil Edwards-Cecil, 40, stopped for a cheeseburger at McDonald’s in Chester where they spotted the bird.

They helped the duck to leave the restaurant but then started arguing over it before a fight broke out.

Gaudoin said: ‘I don’t know how it escalated from there’.


When police arrived he lunged for an officer’s stab vest and kicked out as they tried to detain him.

Edewards-Cecil, whose birthday it was, was warned to back off after trying to push through to help his friend but was sprayed with CS gas and telling officers ‘I don’t give a s**t’ when asked to curb his swearing.



Both men smelled of alcohol and later admitted abusive behaviour and resisting a constable.

The pair were detained following the bizarre row which broke out in McDonald’s (Picture: Chester Standard/SWNS)

They were given conditional discharges and each told to pay £85 in court costs.

Magistrate Fiona Crane told them: ‘I hope this has been a lesson to you.’

Two pals who helped rescue a duck from inside a McDonald’s ended up in court when a drunken row over the bird got out of hand.

Lee Gaudoin, 31, fell out with Neil Edwards-Cecil after they stopped off for a cheeseburger following a few drinks to celebrate his 40th birthday.

Police were eventually called after they started arguing over the bird and Gaudoin later told magistrates: ‘I don’t know how it escalated from there.’

When officers arrived on April 27 they found Gaudoin swearing and loudly talking about ‘how he had saved a duck’.

But after liberating the lost bird the situation quickly ‘escalated’, Chester Magistrates Court heard.

It began after they rescued a duck that had wandered inside (Picture: John Taylor/Getty Images/EyeEm)

Gaudoin was hit with a blast of captor spray after lunging for one of the officers’ stab vests and kicking out as they tried to arrest him.

The birthday boy was warned to back off after trying to push through and help his friend, only to be sprayed for his troubles after replying to a warning to curb his swearing: ‘I don’t give a s**t.’

Adam Antoszkiw, defending Gaudoin, said the incident was ‘completely stupid’ and out of character for the him.

He added: ‘He goes into McDonald’s and there is a duck in there but for whatever reason he gets very aerated.’

Mr Antoszkiw told the court that the mechanic lived a quiet life on his own with his dog, but on this occasion alcohol got the ‘better of him’ in what was ‘very much an isolated incident’.

Gaudoin and Edwards-Cecil were conditionally discharged at Chester Magistrates Court (Picture: Education Images/Universal Images Group Editorial)

Edwards-Cecil, defending himself, said: ‘I just want to apologise for my behaviour. I had gone out for my 40th birthday, gone to McDonald’s to get some food and there was a duck.

‘I don’t know how it escalated from there. To be honest I am ashamed for the way I have acted.’

Edwards-Cecil told magistrates he faces losing his job as an MOT mechanic.

He added: ‘This will never happen again, I am not like this.’



Both men, who were said to have reeked of booze, later admitted abusive behaviour and resisting a constable.

Gaudoin, from Flintshire, and Edwards-Cecil, from Wrexham, were each given a 12-month conditional discharge and told to pay £85 court costs.

Magistrate Fiona Crane told them: ‘I hope this has been a lesson to you.’

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