A man who spat on a priest as an Orange walk marched past a church in Glasgow was caught by his DNA.

Bradley Wallace, 24, assaulted Father Thomas White, who was also verbally abused outside St Alphonsus Church on London Road, as the march passed last summer.

Police took the vestment worn by Father White for forensic analysis and weeks later a DNA ‘hit’ matching Wallace was found.

Wallace, from Uddingston in South Lanarkshire, pleaded guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to assaulting Father White on July 7, last year.

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Sheriff Andrew Cubie told him: “I want you to be under no illusion at all, spitting is disgusting and cowardly and this was done in the context of a sectarian atmosphere which is an embarrassment to the west of Scotland.

“You should be under no illusion all options are open to the court.”

On July 7 last year, the annual Boyne Parade, which had around 4000 participants and attracted an equal amount of spectators, was held in Glasgow.

The court heard that the parade was on its return route around 5pm having “splintered off into different factions” who took different routes through the city.

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He said: “At this time one of the factions was walking along London Road towards its junction with Kent Street.

“They were flanked by a number of police officers who took position outside of St Alphonsus Chrch, due to it being a Catholic congregation.”

The court was told Father White had finished his vigil mass and was at the front entrance to say goodbye to parishioners.

While he stood on the pavement he could see the parade coming towards the church and tried to get back inside.

Mr Farrell added: “Due to the number of parishioners creating a bottleneck at the door he was unable to get back into the church.

“At this time the members of the public associating themselves with the parade began to sing sectarian songs and shout words Father White and the parishioners.”

A large-scale disturbance broke out at the junction between the two streets which took police away from the church.

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With no officers there, members of the public who had been associating themselves with the parade became more volatile towards the congregation.

It was heard that “a number of this group began to spit towards them” and Wallace, who was among the group, spat on Father White’s back.

St Alphonsus: Priest spat at during march.

Mr Farrell added: “On July 23, they were informed of a DNA hit matching Wallace’s profile held on the police DNA database.

“The saliva was found on the back of Father White’s vestments.

“The police continued to carry out open-source checks and identified a Facebook page belonging to Wallace.

“This depicted images of him holding up an England flag with a Union Jack flag in the corner with he words ‘Bridgeton Loyal’ emblazoned on the front, alongside other images pertaining to the ‘Bridgeton Loyal Band’.”

He was contacted by police and agreed to go to London Road station, where he made no reply to caution and charge.

Wallace had his bail continued by the sheriff and will be sentenced later this month.