A man who threatened nightclub door staff while brandishing a glass bottle, before assaulting two police officers, has narrowly avoided going straight to jail for a ‘vile’ display of behaviour.

Cory Crumlish was handed a suspended jail sentence at Suffolk Magistrates' Court on Wednesday after admitting six charges at a plea hearing last month.

The 29-year-old had been refused readmittance to The Grand, in Felixstowe, after an altercation with a woman outside in the early hours of Christmas Day.

After threatening staff, he directed homophobic abuse and spit at the club's manager, before head-butting a police officer and kicking another in the face.

Prosecutor Lesla Small said staff, police and the manager had all tried to defuse the situation.

Crumlish, of Langer Road, Felixstowe, had earlier admitted two counts of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause fear of violence, two assaults on emergency workers, one count of racially aggravated harassment towards the officer he kicked in the face and one of common assault on the club manager.

Sentencing was adjourned until this week for the preparation of a report by the probation service, which recommended professional intervention for problems with cannabis use, gambling, anger management and anxiety.

Craig Marchant, mitigating, said: 'This was a nasty but short-lived incident, to which the appropriate response was a guilty plea at the earliest opportunity and an expression of remorse, which Mr Crumlish has felt pretty much every day since.

'He has little recollection of the precise facts of that evening, which is explained by the level of alcohol he consumed that day.'

He said Crumlish had experienced difficulty ordering his course of antidepressants in the week leading to the incident.

'He acknowledges his behaviour on that occasion was vile, but there is no suggestion he made first physical contact with anyone,' he added.

'His actions were part and parcel of struggling against arrest and not directed at anyone in particular. This is not a case of him approaching the officers and deliberately assaulting them.'

Crumlish received a total of 32 weeks' custody, suspended for 18 months, with 150 hours of unpaid work and 25 days of rehabilitation activity. He must also pay £700 total compensation to the victims.