A MAN has been jailed after he beat a disabled person in a "hate crime".

Magistrates said that Shawn Adam James used "discriminatory language" in the attack and they gave him a stricter sentence to reflect the seriousness, court documents reveal.

James, of Longcroft Road in Kingsclere, was convicted of assaulting the man in Basingstoke on January 9, 2020.

He had initially denied the assault at a court hearing in January, but was found guilty by magistrates after a summary trial in August.

The 29-year-old was jailed for 20 weeks, with the sentence uplifted by 25 per cent to "reflect this hate crime element".