A TEENAGER who repeatedly punched and kicked a man before performing a Nazi salute has been told by a sheriff he will end up in a young offenders institution unless he gives up drinking Buckfast.

The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was also ordered by Sheriff Alistair Brown at Dundee Sheriff Court to “distance himself from the halfwits he is running with” after the incident at a hotel in St Andrews, Fife.

The sheriff, who has previously stated that the tonic wine had a “definite association” with violence, ordered the teenager to complete a community payback order after he pleaded guilty to assault to injury and acting in a racially aggravated manner.

Sentencing, Sheriff Brown said it had been discovered at Polmont Young Offenders Institute in Stirlingshire that “43 per cent of their inmates had drunk Buckfast before their offence.”

He said: “You would be well advised to stop drinking Buckfast. It has high levels of alcohol and an astronomical level of caffeine.

“You can’t cope with it. I hope to see you get a grip. You need to distance yourself from the halfwits you have been running with.”

The court heard the teenager, from Crail in Fife, had carried out a violent attack on another man with two friends at the Greyfriars Hotel in St Andrews on October 22 last year.

One of his friends was previously given an electronic tag over his part in the incident, while the other received a 23-week jail term.

The teenager was ordered to complete 270 hours’ unpaid work and given a 12-month supervision order.