A LATE night drinker racially assaulted a bar manager and spat food over him and another person, York Magistrates Court heard.

Sarah Tyrer, prosecuting, said Christopher Magson, 30, was being loud outside The Crescent Community Venue off Blossom Street at 11.30pm on December 21 after door staff refused him entrance.

When the bar manager went out to ask him to be quieter, Magson told him “why aren’t you going back to your own country” and called him a racial name, before spitting food over him and an eyewitness.

“I found it quite disgusting,” said the eyewitness, adding that the bar manager remained calm throughout.

Magson told police he had been drinking since 2pm that day and had attended a Christmas work do.

He was given a 20-week prison sentence suspended for two years on condition he does 200 hours’ unpaid work.

He was banned from the venue for two years and ordered to pay £200 compensation to the bar manager, a £120 statutory surcharge and £85 prosecution costs.

Magson, of Ascot Way, Acomb, pleaded guilty to racial assault.

Defence solicitor Ghaz Iqbal said Magson was not a racist.

“He has shown a lot of remorse,” said the lawyer. “He has no explanation as to why he behaved in that manner.”

If he was jailed, he would lose his job without the possibility of getting another one.

He had been promoted the day before the court hearing and his employers were standing by him, said Mr Iqbal.

His grandmother would suffer, because he cared for her and supported her financially.