A GREENOCK man shouted 'I am a racist' after verbally abusing a supermarket security guard who suspected him of shoplifting.
Jordan Marshall, 22, repeatedly shouted racial slurs at the Port Glasgow Tesco Extra worker setting off the store's alarms as he tried to leave, the sheriff court was told.
Marshall had been charged with stealing a bottle of alcohol on August 26 last year and was convicted of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner during the afternoon incident.
Procurator fiscal depute Anne Marie Hicks told a sentencing hearing: "At 1.30pm the accused entered the locus at Tesco Extra then left and the alarm was activated, which would suggest a tag was still on an item.
"A security guard of Pakistani origin approached Marshall at the exit and the accused then became verbally abusive, called him a 'pig' and he was swearing at him."
Marshall was then confronted by other staff members and told them: "I am racist, I'll call him a P**i."
He claimed he had mental health issues before hurling further racist expletives.
Aidan Gallagher, defending, told the court: "He was heavily intoxicated on alcohol and illicit valium but that is no excuse for the ignorant behaviour one has heard.
"It is wholly unacceptable in any society, not least in modern society."
Gallagher said Marshall "is currently in recovery" from "issues that have blighted him in the past".
Sheriff Anthony McGeehan condemned Marshall, of Balloch Road, for the 'unacceptable' nature of the offence.
The sheriff said: "You should be thoroughly ashamed of yourself for the type of behaviour that you engaged in on that day.
"This was a member of staff simply doing their job and that person was made subject to racist insults from yourself."
A community payback order was imposed as a direct alternative to a custodial sentence.
Marshall will be supervised for 12 months and must complete 70 hours of unpaid work within a year, reduced from 80 hours because he pleaded guilty at a trial diet.
A review of the order has been scheduled for January 3.
The sheriff told Marshall, who appeared in the dock wearing casual clothes: "When you return to court in January I expect to see you properly dressed; that means no shorts."
