A homeless alcoholic launched a volley of racist abuse at a bus stop because he was angry about the Government’s support for Syrian refugees.

Marc Wiltshire started his tirade after downing two bottles of vodka, a court heard.

He was enraged when he saw a homeless woman who he believed to be foreign begging in London Road, Brighton, while he walked towards The Level.

After swearing at her several times, he turned on people gathered at a bus stop near the Iceland store.

The outburst happened on the afternoon of Saturday, November 25, last year.

Wiltshire was seen verbally abusing several women at the bus stop. He aimed a racial slur to one and swore at another before declaring: “I’m born and bred in Brighton, you are all foreigners.”

When police arrived he immediately admitted he had caused a disturbance, but denied racist abuse.

At the police station he told officers: “I’m so ****ed off with the Government, they are bringing 500 refugees from Syria and giving them everything when I get nothing.”

He believed that the beggar he saw on the streets was a Syrian refugee, which sparked his fury, but later admitted that he has “small man syndrome” and told officers: “I use my mouth to stand up for myself.”

Wiltshire, 39, who is now trying to turn his life around at the St Thomas Fund residential rehab centre at Cromwell Road in Hove, appeared before Brighton magistrates yesterday.

He admitted the charge of causing racially aggravated alarm, harassment and distress.

Prosecutor Martine Sherlock told the court that one woman had to intervene to challenge his drunken behaviour and said the racist comments were directed at people who were white.

Ms Sherlock told the court Wiltshire had previously been jailed for a similar racially aggravated offence.

That sentence ran concurrently to one for possessing a bladed article in public and being drunk and disorderly.

Ed Fish, defending, said Wiltshire had been through rehab in London and was turning his life around.

Probation officer Kate Wright said that Wiltshire was “ashamed” of his behaviour.

Magistrate Robert Macrowan said he was pleased by the progress Wiltshire has made but said: “It was a very unpleasant incident, not the sort of thing you want to see on the streets.”

He ordered Wiltshire to pay £100 in compensation, court costs of £150, and a £100 fine and told him he must complete a 12-month community order with 20 rehabilitation days.