A RACIST who almost severed an Asian man’s ear from his head after seeing him in the company of white women was sentenced to five years in prison today.

Richard Harris, 38, attacked Zahoor Hussain at the Monnington Lodge pub in Blackwood in July 2013.

It was the afternoon of soldier Lee Rigby’s funeral and Harris, a member of a "white pride" group, had been at the pub drinking on his own, Newport Crown Court heard.

A group of colleagues were having a drink in the bar with him including white women and British Asian men.

Harris, of Pritchard Terrace, asked the women what they were doing drinking with terrorists and claimed they were stupid.

When manager Mr Hussain approached him to intervene, Harris called him “disgusting” and told him: “You should be dead”, the court heard.

“This is not your country - you are all animals,” Harris said.

He then grabbed the man by his testicles, causing him to stumble, then hit him over the head with a glass bottle which smashed on impact, leaving his ear hanging from his head and causing him to briefly lose consciousness.

When police looked at his phone they found racist images including one of a black man being shot after he had impregnated a white woman.

During the trial the court heard he was a member of "white pride" group the British Movement, which Harris said concerns itself with the "purity of the white race".

Harris, who had denied the offence and claimed he acted in self-defence, was convicted of racially aggravated wounding after a four-day trial.

Recorder Jonathan Ferris told him: “You are a member of an extreme racist organisation. You are a racist. You attacked the victim because he was socialising with a group of white women, one of whom was pregnant. It was violence motivated by your extreme racist views”.

Supt Mark Warrender, the Hate Crime Lead for Gwent Police said: "This was a disgusting assault that has had life changing effects for the victim. We'd like to pay tribute to the victim himself for his courage throughout.

"I'd also like to thank the members of the community who were witnesses to this incident who were able to provide information that led to the arrest of Harris so quickly and also gave evidence at the trial, showing very clearly that the majority of people found his behaviour, which was fuelled by racism, abhorrent.

"There is no place for racism or any hate crime within our communities. Our officers working on this investigation, led by DC Gemma Davies, provided a thorough file of evidence at court to ensure Harris was punished as he should be and it is only right that the length of sentence reflects the racially aggravated element in this incident. I hope it shows others that Gwent Police and other agencies across the Criminal Justice System will not tolerate hate crime”