A MAN who smashed a taxi wing mirror has been jailed.

Thomas Lewis also admitted punching a second car, causing £200 damage, while a woman and a child were inside.

Worcester Magistrates Court was told how Basit Hussain was sat in his cab in The Cross, Worcester, when he heard a smash and saw his passenger side wing mirror hanging by its cabling.

He followed Lewis, aged 21, of no fixed address, who told him: “I can do what I want, it’s my country.” Lewis then punched a dark green car in Angel Place belonging to Ahad Beheshtsaraei, damaging the wing mirror.

Matt Dodson, prosecuting, said: “Mr Beheshtsaraei’s partner was inside and an 11-year-old child. They were severely shaken.”

When arrested Lewis told officers: “I’d do it again. They don’t belong in this country. This is my country.” At Worcester Police Station, Lewis was heard to say: “They are not British”.

Mr Dodson said Lewis later told officers he was drunk and angry because he had been thrown out of St Paul’s Hostel.

Lewis was due to stand trial for the two offences of racially aggravated criminal damage, which took place in the early hours of Wednesday, June 17, but he was brought to court in custody after being charged with being drunk and disorderly on Wednesday.

Sarah Brady, defending, said Lewis, who admitted all three charges, had been in a spiral of self-destructive behaviour since he was 18. He had not realised the woman and child were in the car.

District Judge David Goodman sentenced him to a total of 16 weeks in prison for the offences and for breaching a previous conditional discharge for theft.

He was also fined £65 for being drunk and disorderly but that was deemed served by the one day he had spent in custody.

• Your Worcester News was the only member of the media to attend this hearing.