A former British Army soldier who pushed a security guard at a hotel housing migrants and smashed a window has been spared jail.

Michael Tart, who served with the Royal Artillery, targeted the accommodation in Ashford on August 4 last year, a week after the tragic killing of three young girls in Southport, Merseyside.

Riots, violent disorder and vitriolic social media posts erupted across the country in response to their deaths - creating a time described by a judge at Canterbury Crown Court as being when the country was "beset by bulk fury".

Tart was said to have been "brazen enough" to go to the hotel knowing migrants were living there and make racial comments, immediately before he assaulted Ali Mohammad and broke a glass pane.

The 38-year-old was arrested under what is known as Operation Hockey - the nationwide police investigation into the unrest which resulted in the apprehension of more than 1,500 people, including children, fast-tracked court appearances, and prison sentencings for some running to several years.

But despite also facing an immediate spell behind bars, when the Ashford resident returned to the crown court to learn his fate on Tuesday (January 7) he was left with a jail term hanging over his head instead.

Tart, of Nine Acres, Kennington, had pleaded guilty to affray, racially aggravated common assault and racially aggravated criminal damage at an earlier hearing on August 23.

However, it was accepted by the prosecution that although charged as 'aggravated', the offences were in fact racially 'motivated'.

The court heard that having served in Cyprus and Iraq between 2002 and 2009, Tart had been diagnosed in 2014 with post-traumatic stress disorder.

James Burke, defending, said the ex-soldier's symptoms include anxiety, memory loss, panic and nightmares.

But although the lawyer added there may be a link between the defendant's mental health issues and his criminal behaviour that day, he also argued that any of the racial language used by him was not directed at the security guard Mr Mohammad.

Explaining Tart's actions and his resulting shame, Mr Burke had told the court: "He has gone along to a hotel and there are people within that hotel in respect of which language was being used.

"He has accepted people in the hotel might also be defined to be victims of the offence.

"He is someone deeply ashamed and he totally regrets what he has done."

After hearing the mitigation, Judge Simon Taylor KC had adjourned sentencing for psychiatric and probation reports - and has now imposed a three-month prison term suspended for 12 months.

The conditions of that order are that Tart, who has been on bail since his arrest, completes up to 15 rehabilitation activity requirements and be subject to a three-month curfew between 7.30pm and 4am.

He must also pay £100 compensation, £1,000 in court costs, and the £128 victim surcharge.

Judge Taylor had remarked at the previous hearing that Operation Hockey cases were those committed "when the nation was beset by bulk fury and an epidemic of violent disorder".

The hotel targeted by Tart was one of two in Kent taken over by the Home Office to resettle people fleeing Afghanistan during the 2021 Taliban takeover.

However, in September 2023 it was announced the venue was to be reopened to the public.

Ashford council confirmed a total of 300 Afghan refugees were placed in the hotel during that two-year period.