A DRUNK who shouted racist abuse at a police officer must carry out 60 hours of unpaid work.

Duncan Tanguay, 43, of Springfield Crescent in Royal Wootton Bassett pleaded guilty to racially-aggravated harassment towards PC Townsend in the Tesco on Ocotal Way on March 17.

Pauline Lambert, prosecuting, said: “At 8.30pm, Mr Tanguay was at the entrance of the Tesco and an officer told him multiple times to leave as he is banned from the store, then he came back at 10pm.

“He went into the men’s toilets so PC Townsend entered the toilets with a security guard to ask Mr Tanguay to leave.

“He left the toilets with the officer following him.

“Mr Tanguay yelled ‘Don’t touch me, are you from South Africa? Are you from apartheid?’, swore at the officer and stuck his middle finger up at him.

“When arrested, Mr Tanguay asked ‘What for? This is apartheid, I hate those white South Africans.’

“In interview, he didn’t recall the event but accepted what he said was wrong – he had been drinking and was not in a good state.

“PC Townsend is from Australia and took offence to being associated with apartheid, which is a policy based around dividing people based on the colour of their skin and a policy he does not support, just because he has an accent.”

Tanguay has a previous racially-aggravated offence conviction from 2014.

Gordon Hotson, defending, said: “Give him credit for the remorse, he is a man who has had issues with alcohol for some significant time.

“He currently has a community order with an alcohol treatment requirement, which he has completed.

“He’s now sober far more often than he’s drunk, but when he does drink it affects him more than it would have before.

“He accepts that his behaviour was unacceptable, he was shocked to hear what he had said and wrote a letter of apology that he says was from the heart.

“A degree of confusion has been shown, the officer is Australian not South African, but of course that does not make what was said acceptable.

“Mr Tanguay has been diagnosed with extreme anxiety disorder and it’s a key factor in his engagements with forms of authority.”

Tanguay’s previous community order was revoked and replaced with a new one that includes 60 hours of unpaid work, 20 rehab activity days and a new alcohol treatment requirement.

He must also pay £85 in costs and £85 to victim services.