A racist thug threatened to slice a man's throat after using a knife to carve a swastika into a bus seat in Faversham.

After slashing the bus seat with the offensive Nazi symbol, Michael Wickham then launched a vile tirade of racist abuse at fellow passenger Omar Sayang.

He threatened to cut Mr Sayang's neck after the security guard reported his actions to the bus driver outside Faversham railway station last November.

"He said to follow him around the corner and that he would slash my throat with my knife. It was a very aggressive, threatening tone..." - Omar Sayan

Wickham, who suffers from curvature of the spine and blood clots in both legs, had been travelling to Faversham by a rail replacement bus service to collect his crutches from a friend in the town.

Prosecutor Nicholas Markendale told Maidstone Magistrates' Court: "Mr Sayang saw the defendant produce a Stanley knife and cut the bus seat with it.

"He reported what he had seen to the bus driver and when the defendant saw he was being pointed out he returned to ask the driver what had been said."

The 35-year-old then racially abused Mr Sayang, swearing at him and accusing him of black magic.

Mr Sayang told the court he felt very threatened and walked away from the confrontation: "He turned round and called me a black bastard.

"He said to follow him around the corner and that he would slash my throat with my knife. It was a very aggressive, threatening tone. I felt uncomfortable."

Bus driver John Truman called the police, but Wickham fled before being found in the town by police. They searched Wickam but a knife was not found.

Wickham - who lived in Central Parade, Herne Bay, at the time of the attack - denied all the charges against him, claiming both Mr Sayang and Mr Truman must have been mistaken in what they heard and that in fact he was carrying a mobile phone not a knife.

He said a heated row with a friend could have been mistaken for abuse.

David Nelson, defending, said: "The witnesses were mistaken. There are inconsistencies in what they say."

But magistrates found Wickham guilty possession of a knife, criminal damage and racial harassment. He will be sentenced on July 8.