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A ghost hunter who threatened and racially abused Virgin Atlantic staff has been deemed "too fat for jail".

Kade Jones, 49, bullied Virgin staff in menacing phone calls and even called one call centre worker a "disgusting Filipino".

He had already been placed on a watch list with the airline, which banned him from flying with them in 2010, and has more than 20 previous convictions for abusing people over the phone.

But a judge yesterday spared the paranormal investigator an immediate term in jail after his lawyer Rob Glenday argued prison would be "extremely burdensome".

Instead, Judge Vicki Loury sentenced Jones to 12 months in jail but ordered he be released on a $2000 (£1,100) good behaviour bond for five years.

(Image: Nine News)

It meant the man left court without offering an explanation for his intimidating behaviour.

Jones appeared at Brisbane District Court in a wheelchair to admit two counts of using a carriage service to harass, News.au reports.

But he told the judge: "I’m sorry, I’m in a lot of pain", and said he was unable to stand.

Jones' actions in June 2017 were described as "abusive, threatening and racist" and the judge said he "scared, intimidated, belittled and degraded" the victims.

After he abused the Filipino employee, he was transferred to an operator in Brisbane.

(Image: Nine News)

But the yob continued to be rude and offensive, the court heard.

He told the Brisbane operator he did not believe she was Australian and threatened to have her arrested.

But she reported police and Jones was soon arrested.

Jones had told the Brisbane employee: "Ma’am, don’t tell me in that Filipino lingo of yours, the thing is, let me tell you what the thing is, I’ve got my legal team here, I’ve got the police on the way.

"So you may need to get off that little Filipino backside of yours and you may want to get onto your Australian head office.

"And they want to go into crash control because voice recordings of you and your Filipino staff abusing me and swearing at me are about to be handed to the Australian Federal Police."

(Image: Google)

And Jones also had been convicted of similar offences on three other occasions dating back to 1998.

During those incidents he told public servants they were "going to hell" and threatened to "break kneecaps".

But Mr Glenday, defending, also said Jones has "complex obesity" and back problems, the latter caused by a rugby injury.

Jones has worked for years as a paranormal investigator and toured "haunted houses" across Australia.