A SWINDON man who attacked a Turk in the town has been remanded in custody by a judge.

Shane Timms pleaded guilty to a charge of racially aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily harm when he appeared before Swindon Crown Court.

The 24-year-old, of no fixed abode, attacked Ali Sari on May 17 last year.

He also pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to surrender to custody on June 9 last year.

Timms, who was with his brother at the time of the incident, accepted saying a racist slur to the victim during the attack, the court heard.

Jonathan Simpson, defending, said that his client's brother was the one who initiated contact and hostility between their group and the group containing Mr Sari.

He said that Shane Timms did not accept responsibility for his brother's actions and had felt he was under attack when the assault took place.

Timms has been in custody since December last year but has been residing at Rosewood House, a secure mental hospital in Stratton, rather then prison for most of that time. An earlier hearing was told that the defendant suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and that his mental health was not good towards the end of last year and early this year.

The court was also told that he had stopped taking is medication and had a history of cannabis, amphetamine and ecstasy use.

After hearing the guilty plea Recorder Duncan Adam adjourned the case so reports could be prepared on Timms.

He remanded him into the custody of Rosewood House until Friday May 20 when he is expected to be sentenced.

Jamie Hill