A RACE-hate yob draped himself in a Union Flag and burst into a mosque to abuse worshippers on the holiest day of the Islamic calendar.

Together with his bull terrier, Paul Grainger tried to kick his way into the Shahjalal Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre, in Newcastle's West End.

Inside, were more than 400 Muslims praying.

After their worship was disrupted, they came outside to find Grainger hurling racist abuse and waving a Union Flag and St George's flag.

The jobless 38-year-old, of Campbell Place, Elswick, Newcastle, admitted a racially-aggravated charge of causing harassment, alarm or distress and was fined £180 by Newcastle magistrates yesterday.

Inspector Gerry Barker, of the New Deal police team, in the West End area of Newcastle, said: "This was a nasty incident.

"It was totally uncalled for and there is no justification for it whatsoever.

"We take this very seriously because we have got an in-grained British right to worship."

Grainger staged his racist rampage on October 19, during the month of Ramadan, on the day Muslims gather to celebrate the time when the first part of the Holy Koran, the Islamic sacred book, was initially givento the people.

Hundreds of worshippers packed into the mosque from 8.30pm and planned to pray until 6am the following day.

But they were disturbed by a drunken Grainger, who tried to kick down the doors of the building.

Clive Freemantle, prosecuting, said: "The defendant was seen waving a Union Flag and a St George's flag and he also had with him a Staffordshire bull terrier, which was not on a lead.

"He was shouting racist abuse at the worshippers as they left, he waved both flags at them and one of them was upset by this so he placed a call to the police to report the incident.

"The officers drove up and saw the defendant standing with his dog and his flags and he was shouting abuse, waving his flags as he left the mosque."

He was arrested after shouting white Judas at the officers.

John Foley, mitigating, said: "He can't remember very much about it.

"The bit that he can remember is that he was walking his dog and he had been drinking. He was heavily intoxicated.

"He says he is not a racist, he's got black friends and he doesn't know where he got the flags from."