A MAN has been jailed for a racist attack in which a foreign student was punched and kicked to the floor.

Lorry driver Thomas Waller, 21, attacked Monatsheba Kakengi after taunting him with racial insults.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Waller had downed up to 12 pints of beer before confronting Mr Kakengi, who had been on a night out in Stockton in the early hours of March 28 this year.

David Lamb, prosecuting, said Waller, who had previously served in the RAF, was among a group of three men who followed the victim and pinched a woollen hat off his head.

Waller then swore at him and punched him hard in the back of the head causing him to fall onto the pavement, before proceeding to kick his body.

Mr Kakengi managed to get up and walk into a nearby pizza shop, but Waller continued to goad him, asking him outside for a fight.

He was eventually arrested when a passing police van appeared and Mr Kakengi made a complaint to a police officer.

Mr Kakengi, who is from the Democratic Republic of Congo, received hospital treatment for minor injuries.

Waller, who admitted a racially aggravated assault by beating, was interviewed by police but said he was so drunk he could not remember any of the events of that night.

Nigel Soppitt, mitigating, said Waller was dreadfully sorry for his behaviour.

Mr Soppitt said: "In his befuddled state what started off as a bit of a laugh turned ugly very quickly."

Jailing him for five months, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Peter Fox said such "senseless, loutish behaviour was entirely unacceptable".

Waller, of Bishopton Road, Stockton, was also ordered to pay £305 compensation to his victim.