A RACIST who attacked five strangers in a series of unprovoked street assaults has avoided a prison sentence.

It was the second time in three years Alexander James Webster had walked free from court after going on a rampage in York when high on drink or drugs.

Simon Ostler, prosecuting, told York Magistrate' Court that Webster, 23, attacked five strangers in quick succession in Bishopthorpe Road on November 19, 2017. All the attacks were unprovoked.

He told three men, all of who appeared to be white British, “Go back home” and “why don’t you go back from where you come from”.

He kicked one from behind into a brick wall and assaulted the other two when they went to help him.

Webster asked a man of Greek extraction: “Are you Muslim?” and punched him in the face, said Mr Ostler.

He also blocked the path of a private hire car and punched the passenger.

Webster, of Langdale Avenue, Tang Hall, pleaded guilty to racially aggravated actual bodily harm, racially aggravated assault, one charge of actual bodily harm, two of assault and one of possessing cannabis.

For him, Keith Whitehouse said Webster was full of remorse and had mental health problems.

He used alcohol to cope with the suicide 14 years ago of his father and other family bereavements.

“He will require professional involvement for a significant period,” he said.

District Judge Adrian Lower gave Webster a 12-month community order with 25 days’ rehabilitative activities and 250 hours’ unpaid work and ordered him to pay £600 compensation to the five victims, plus £85 prosecution costs.

He said: “This is very much your last chance, because if there is any repeat of this sort of behaviour, you know what lies in store for you.”

In March 2016, Judge Guy Kearl QC gave Webster a 11-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months for two assaults, four charges of criminal damage and one of theft and one of possessing cocaine.

York Crown Court heard how Webster lunged at two men’s necks with a broken bottle and kicked in four windows in what the judge called an “alcohol and cocaine-fuelled rampage” in York city centre.

The judge heard he had sought help from the bereavement counselling service Cruse, the mental health charity MIND and a drug and alcohol rehabilitation agency.