A JUDGE has sent out a firm message that racist attacks will not be tolerated by the courts.

Shane Ince was sentenced to 12 months for an unprovoked “foul and disgusting” drunken assault on a woman as she waited for a taxi.

Maidstone Crown Court heard that victim Lorraine Cochrane had been deeply affected by the violence.

Judge Andrew Patience told Ince: “It was based on the fact that she had black skin. Such behaviour will not be tolerated.

“It is foul, and any court I have anything to do with is going to come down on such behaviour heavily, in order to make it clear what we, and I believe what the vast majority of fellow citizens think about it.”

The judge said the 20-year-old thug had made a confident and sociable woman nervous, and someone who now regarded the job she enjoyed as a chore.

Miss Cochrane was waiting for the cab in the garden of a friend’s home in Rock Avenue, Gillingham, after a night out on September 3 last year.

Andrew Jones, prosecuting, said she heard Ince and a woman arguing at a nearby house.

Ince shouted at Miss Cochrane: “What are you looking at, you black bitch.”

She replied: “I’m not looking at anything, I’m just waiting for a taxi.”

Ince then ran up to her and punched her twice in the face, knocking her off a wall onto concrete. The woman pulled Ince away.

Miss Cochrane was taken to Medway Maritime Hospital, where she was treated for swelling to both eyes and a bruised forehead.

Ince, of Wayfield Road, Chatham, admitted racially aggravated actual bodily harm. He was sentenced to 12 months youth custody.