A man hurled racist abuse and spat at police officers after being refused entry to an exercise yard.
Antonio Serrano-Purdew directed the hateful slurs towards officers after being arrested.
The 31-year-old was hauled away from a casino on May 7 of last year following an incident – of which the charges were dropped at trial.
Prosecuting, Emily Lanham told Southampton Crown Court how the shocking incident unfolded.
She said: “This followed an incident at a casino.
“Once the defendant was arrested, he was taken into custody in Southampton.
“He spat on two police officers when he was told he could not go into the exercise yard.
“The spitting and assault were accompanied by him calling the officers racial slurs on two occasions.”
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Serrano-Purdew, of Holt Court in Weston, Southampton, pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting emergency workers and one count of using racially aggravated threatening words and behaviour.
He also appeared before court for breach of a suspended sentence.
Ms Lanham said: “The defendant failed to attend unpaid work on two occasions in December 2023 and failed to attend a rehabilitation activity requirement appointment in January.”
But mitigating, Laura Duff said various factors including his poor mental health and his mother’s deteriorating physical health had an adverse effect on the defendant.
She said: “Serrano-Purdew’s mother is very seriously ill with bowel cancer and is reliant on the defendant.
“He turned to alcohol consumption as a means of coping.
“He thoroughly regretted his behaviour on this day and has now stopped drinking altogether.
“He is very keen to get the benefit of the help probation can offer him.
“This is a man who was in a very dark place at the time this occurred, but he is doing his upmost to get where he needs to be.”
Passing sentence, Judge Gary Burrell said: “You have had a hard time recently, but the best way to help your mother is to stay out of prison.
“You can thank probation that they still want to keep you because if they did not, you would be going to prison.”
He handed Serrano-Purdew an eight month sentence suspended for two years.
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