A 48-YEAR-OLD man has been spared jail after assaulting a nurse, fracturing a man’s shoulder at a bus stop and racially abusing a McDonald’s worker.

Stuart Thorne, who was described by his own solicitor as “extremely difficult to deal with when in drink”, was handed a suspended sentence at Oxford Crown Court yesterday after admitting seven offences.

Thorne, of Abingdon Road, Oxford, has a criminal record dating back 31 years and was jailed for three years in 2005 for a sexual assault.

On October 10, he approached 47-year-old Martin Elliott at a bus stop in St Clement’s, East Oxford, at 11.30pm saying he was homeless and asking for cigarettes, prosecutor Cathy Olliver said.

She said: “The aggrieved was standing with an Asian man and a white woman. Mr Thorne went away and came back shouting at people ‘you’re not British, my father fought for this country’, before he pushed Mr Elliott who fell against the bus shelter and then to the ground.

“Mr Thorne picked up an umbrella, waved it around and shouted ‘you should be proud to be British’.

“The victim suffered a fractured right shoulder and was off work for three months.”

Two weeks later, on October 24, Thorne was drunk in McDonald’s in Cornmarket Street, Oxford, at 3pm.

Miss Olliver told the court: “He was shouting ‘I’ve been in the country 48 years, you lot shouldn’t be working here’, before he pushed manager Mohammed Iltaf in the face.

“He then went to the top of the stairs and was asked to leave, but he said ‘this is a white man’s table’.”

On January 21, Thorne attempted suicide by jumping from a multi-storey car park, but survived with a broken pelvis, leg and elbow.

In hospital on February 13, he pushed nurse Jillian Heath and threw an empty urine bottle and his walking frame across the room.

Thorne admitted wounding, racially aggravated assault and a common assault in relation to the three separate incidents. He also admitted two breaches of a sex offender order – by drinking in public – possession of cannabis and assaulting a Pc by biting an officer as he was being searched.

In August 2002, Thorne was jailed for 14 months after admitting indecent exposure following an incident at the Odeon cinema in George Street, Oxford.

He has 35 convictions for 82 offences dating back to 1979.

Nick Cotter, defending, said: “I know from my own experience he is extremely difficult to deal with when in drink, but when sober he can be, in fact, very charming.”

He said his client had become a much more “placid, level-headed individual” since beginning a course of anti-depressants nine months ago.

Mr Cotter said Thorne’s injuries from his suicide attempt meant “he is now suffering some of the pain he has inflicted on others and there’s a degree of natural justice in that regard”.

Judge Christopher Compston said: “Why can’t people just be able to work without being being abused by louts like you?”

He gave Thorne an 18-month sentence, suspended for two years, with a 24-month supervision and six-month alcohol-treatment requirement.

tairs@oxfordmail.co.uk