A MAN who racially abused a prison officer following an incident in Salisbury has been jailed.

Daniel Lee Guthrie, 37 from Swallowcliffe Gardens, Yeovil had been involved in an incident which happened at the start of September last year in the city centre. Following his arrest – of which the charges were later dropped, he racially abused a prisoner transport officer whilst in custody at Melksham Police Station.

He was found guilty of the charge and sentenced to eight weeks in prison and ordered to pay £115 victim compensation.

In his personal statement to the court, the victim said: "I am very upset that this male believes it is appropriate to be so abusive. I believe that his comments were purely to do with the colour of my skin. The comment was totally unjustified and disgusting. This should not happen when you are only trying to do your job."

Inspector Pete Sparrow said: "We are pleased that the courts decided that a custodial sentence was appropriate. The victim, a member of our Prisoner Transport Team here in Salisbury, was understandably upset by the vile comments made by Guthrie. If you are the victim of hate crimes please do report it, we know these crimes are under reported but we want to know and we will take appropriate action.”

Call 101 to report a crime or 999 if it is an emergency.