A FATHER-of-two who drank 12 pints of lager at a family christening before racially abusing an off-duty police officer has been jailed.

Aaron Merry, aged 22, called the officer Portuguese and repeatedly told him to “go back to his own country”.

The sergeant, who is actually Irish, had been at home in Stourport when he heard a disturbance in the street.

He went outside to investigate and discovered Merry shouting and swearing.

Appearing at Worcester Magistrates Court Merry, of Wivelden Avenue, Stourport-on-Severn, pleaded guilty to the racially aggravated use of threatening words or behaviour.

Marie Watton, prosecuting, said: “He was repeatedly saying, ‘Go back to your own country’.

“The officer asked the male to be quiet as there were families and children asleep in nearby houses.

“He did not and said, ‘I’ll have you, I’ll kick your head in’.”

When uniformed officers arrived Merry continued to be abusive and threatened to “kick the teeth out” of a police dog.

Katherine Maynereid, def-ending, told the court that Merry drank 12 pints at a christening earlier in the day and was upset about a family dispute.

“He accepts he used those words when the off-duty police officer turned up,” she said.

“He very much regrets his behaviour. It was a nasty incident and Mr Merry accepts that he has to be punished for it.”

District judge Bruce Mor-gan jailed Merry for 12 weeks.

He said: “Racism is as prevalent as it is odious as it is socially unacceptable.”