A SOUTHAMPTON man who had been drinking two bottles of vodka a day for eight months was spared an immediate prison sentence after a judge heard he was waiting to see a liver consultant.

Judge John Boggis QC feared that if Richard Kille went to prison, it might result in a delay in seeing him.

Daily Echo: Click below to see a video of today's headlines in sixty seconds

The judge warned him: “You are seriously ill. You are killing yourself with your drink and you must find a way of stopping it because the net result otherwise is obvious.”

Said to have 21 previous convictions, Kille, of Bevois Valley Road, received a 12 month suspended sentence coupled with a nine month alcohol treatment requirement.

“This is your last chance.

There is nowhere else to go but custody. Breach it and you will go into custody, no ifs and buts.”

Kille, 25, had admitted racially aggravated provocation of violence when he was abusive to a Polish couple at the Southampton Job Centre, using threatening words or behaviour when he punched another man in the face, possessing a small amount of cannabis and shoplifting two bottles of wine and £80 worth of meat which he intended to sell for drink.

Mitigating at the city Crown Court, David Reid said Kille had led a chaotic lifestyle because of drink and drugs misuse but he was motivated to take the alcohol treatment course.