A thug unleashed a racist tirade towards a police officer mid-arrest before spitting in his partner’s face as she tried to calm him.

Michael Long, a drug addict of three decades, was apprehended in Faversham when he kicked off shouting and swearing.

Rather than settling down, the 57-year-old’s ranting continued, whereby he taunted one officer with a vile racist term and then discharged saliva over his girlfriend.

Long, of Colegates Close, Oare, Faversham, was later charged with racially aggravated harassment, threatening behaviour and assault.

He pleaded guilty to the charges at Medway Magistrates' Court on January 30.

The court heard Long levelled the racist slur towards PC James Castle on August 9 last year.

Rajni Prashar, prosecuting, said: “He was arrested in Cyprus Road, Faversham, over an unrelated matter and became verbally abusive and made comments.

“He told the officers to f*** off and called them w****** and ***** and then called PC Castle (a racist term).”

The prosecutor said Long called the police “dirty bum bags” among other expletives – then turned his focus to his partner.

“His partner then comes over to tell him to calm down and he spits in her face, so was further arrested because of that and was then charged with assault,” she said.

Magistrates heard the officer wrote a victim impact statement, where he described Long’s aggression and how the racist term was upsetting.

Miss Prashar added: “He has previous convictions one for excess drug driving and another for violence.”

Lainey Snook, mitigating, told the court her client had been a drug addict for 30 years but is now prescribed methadone.

She added: “He was homeless for 18 months and was in temporary accommodation but also cares for his mum who has dementia.

“He’s been clean for six years now and gets help from the Forward Trust which he attends twice a week.

“He’s very apologetic and it’s somewhat out of character for him.

“He has arthritis and is on Universal Credit and gets PIP to assist (him).”

Ms Snook also invited magistrates to consider a conditional discharge and compensation to his victims as a way of punishing Long.

She added: “He’s not a prolific offender and it would act as a deterrent.”

Magistrates agreed and placed Long on a 24-month conditional discharge for the offences against the police officer and ordered he pay PC Castle £100 compensation.

Long received no separate penalty for spitting at his partner.

He was not ordered to pay her any compensation nor was he ordered to pay any court costs.

He will pay what he owes the court at a rate of £20 a month because he is on benefits.