A French student who took a knife to a nightclub has walked free from court after magistrates accepted he was scared to live in Britain post Brexit.

Phillippe Roubert, 20, claimed he needed the knife to protect himself from Britain's "violent" streets over fears "foreigners" were subjected to attacks.

Magistrates, sitting at Exeter Magistrates Court, took a lenient course of action after accepting his fears in the aftermath of the Brexit vote were understandable.

Roubert, Exeter, had attempted to take a butterfly blade into the Unit 1 club in the city on December 11 but was stopped by door staff.

He told police he was scared by stories of how dangerous the streets of Britain could be and how Brexit had fostered a climate of xenophobia.