A man who launched a racist and drunken attack on a Sikh supermarket manager thinking he was a Muslim has been jailed for two years.

Steven Kent, 25, from Lowestoft, turned up at a Sainsbury's store with two companions after they had spent the previous night drinking heavily.

It was two hours before the store, in Harpenden, Herts, was due to open and Kent, of Kirkley Cliff Road, Lowestoft, and Stuart Cameron, 19, hurled racist abuse at manager Gurminder Singh, linked to their belief he was a Muslim.

When Mr Singh, known as Bobby, told them he was a Sikh they rained a flurry of blows on him, leaving him with a fractured cheekbone.

Passing sentence at the Old Bailey, in London, yesterday, Judge Richard Hone QC, said the attack left staff in "complete terror".

Kent was handed two years in jail after he was found guilty of racially aggravated grievous bodily harm, as well as a charge of affray for attacking another Sainsbury's employee who rushed to help Mr Singh on May 28 last year. [Link]