A DRUNK who hurled a torrent of racist abuse and threats at a Burnley bus station security guard was spared jail.

Pennine magistrates heard how father-of-two Robert Aitchison, 37, told Naqash Ahmed he was going to blow his head off 'like they do in Afghanistan.'

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He also told his victim: "I will slit your throat. I will stone your wife, like they do in Afghanistan," in an upsetting and insulting outburst on May 6. He was taken to the ground by Mr Ahmed and a colleague.

Aitchison, who struck in front of horrified onlookers, told police he had been drinking for about four hours - but claimed he was not a racist, the court heard.

Aitchison, a Todmorden man of no fixed address, who admitted racially aggravated intentional harassment, was told by magistrates he had just escaped being locked up, one reason being that he was on medication.

He received eight weeks in prison, suspended for a year, with a 15-day activity requirement and was ordered to pay an £80 victim surcharge and £85 costs.

Tracy Yates, prosecuting, said Mr Ahmed saw Aitchison with a can of beer on the bus station and asked him to dispose of it. At first, he agreed, but then carried on drinking and when the victim asked him again, the defendant became abusive.

The security guard remained professional and polite in the face of the abuse.

Maggie Cavanagh, defending, said Aitchison, who had a long-standing problem with alcohol, used "some pretty choice words", out of frustration and anger at how he was being treated.

She added: "He is not, he would say, an inherently racist person."