AN offender has admitted assaulting a man and shouting racist abuse – shortly after being released from prison for similar offences.
The Magistrate’s Court heard that 50-year-old Christopher Henry Hall encountered two men outside the Freedom Centre in Bath Street on Monday and told one of them, “Get out of my country and go back to your own”, before adding racial slurs.
Legal adviser Kerry Grieve, prosecuting, said that as one of the men put his mobile phone to his ear, Hall lunged forward to snatch the phone, hitting the man in the face. He was left with a bloody nose and a scratch close to his mouth.
Hall admitted assault and behaviour likely to cause alarm and distress, and said he had been drunk at the time.
Ms Grieve added that Hall had been jailed for two months on 20 January for similar offences.
She said: “He has an extensive record. There is a pattern of similar offending, disorderly behaviour and low-level assault.”
The Magistrate, Bridget Shaw, decided to adjourn sentencing until 26 April and remanded him in custody.
