A MAN screamed racial abuse and threw a telephone at a hotel receptionist in an argument over a room payment.

Matthew Nisbet, 32, threatened to kill the worker at the Heathlands Hotel in Bournemouth, and told him, “you better sleep with one eye open”.

The defendant also caused £225 worth of damage in the reception area, and left staff “petrified” and fearing for their safety.

Prosecutor Richard Martin said Nisbet had gone into the hotel in Grove Road on Monday, March 27 last year, when he had begun to argue with a reception worker over a room he had booked.

Nisbet became “very aggressive and violent” when the receptionist asked for upfront payment before handing the room key over.

He was witnessed by two other guests in the reception shouting racial abuse, and saying, “I’m going to grab your neck”, and, “Don’t sleep at night because me and my friends will come back and kill you.”

The court heard how Nisbet then picked up the reception telephone, before “striking” the reception worker, breaking both the phone and the perspex screens on the desk.

Bournemouth Echo: Heathlands HotelHeathlands Hotel (Image: NQ)

While the member of staff was not injured, he said in a victim impact statement that the incident was “traumatic” and has had a “lasting effect” on his mental health.

Nisbet, of no fixed address, admitted charges of assault by beating, criminal damage and committing a racially aggravated offence.

He was due to appear at Bournemouth Crown Court on Friday, February 9, but refused to attend or be represented.

Judge Susan Evans KC noted Nisbet had a history of refusing to attend court, and said, “I can’t see he is ever going to cooperate with the process”, and so decided to sentence in his absence.

The court heard how the defendant began committing offences in the late summer of 2022, and has since accumulated 18 offences.

It was said that Nisbet’s life had “spiralled out of control” around this time, with him experiencing the end of a relationship, homelessness, alcohol abuse and ‘other key events’.

Mr Martin noted Nisbet was handed a 19-month prison sentence suspended for two years on January 17 last year – just a couple of months before his offending at The Heathlands Hotel.

A probation officer suggested there were some “undiagnosed mental health issues” which could be linked to his criminal behaviour. 

She added, “There is a concern we cannot manage him in the community”, noting he has previously ‘gone of the radar’ and failed to engage with probation.

Judge Evans KC said: “Mr Nisbet was a man who had a very promising life ahead of him. He qualified as a commercial pilot at the age of 19.

“Regrettably, as he reached the age of 30, his life seems to have spiralled out of control, and he went on a spree of offending in 2022.”

Judge Evans KC activated Nisbet’s 19 month suspended sentence, and handed him a 14 week prison sentence for his Heathlands Hotel offending to run consecutive.