A Court has heard how the lives of two Bradford BNP members were devastated after they were shown on TV hurling racist abuse at a nightclub doorman.

Stephen Barkham and Richard O'Grady, both now 24, were caught on camera during undercover filming for a BBC documentary called Secret Agent.

The programme maker, Jason Gwynne, befriended Barkham and followed him round pubs in Bradford and Leeds for a celebration to wet his baby's head.

Leeds Crown Court heard yesterday that by the time Barkham and O'Grady reached The Box Nightclub in Headingley, Leeds, each had drunk about a gallon of beer.

Prosecutor Andrew Stubbs said that trouble flared outside the club when the doormen refused to let the whole of Barkham's ten-strong party in.

One member of the group, not Barkham or O'Grady, racially abused a doorman.

Mr Stubbs said that Mr Rashid pushed the man who had insulted him, sparking racist remarks from other members of the group including Barkham and O'Grady.

Barkham accused Mr Rashid of being racist for not letting his wife's friends into the club.

O'Grady then made offensive remarks about Mr Rashid's family.

He called for backup on his radio and the incident ended without any violence.

Barkham and O'Grady pleaded guilty in May to racially aggravated harassment on March 27.

The case was adjourned until yesterday for the preparation for pre-sentence reports.

The court heard that both men were members of the British National Party at the time but were no longer part of that movement.

Their barristers told the court how they had suffered since the Secret Agent programme on the BNP was screened.

In mitigation for Barkham, Richard Gioserano said that after the programme was shown, Barkham was sacked from his job as a plumber, told he could not complete his college course, and he and his partner, with their new baby, were evicted by their landlord.

"Within weeks of that documentary being screened he'd lost his job, his college course, his home and his family, said Mr Gioserano."

He said that Barkham was now living with his grandmother after his relationship had broken down.

The way he behaved that night was not a true reflection of how he feels but he has to accept that he said those things, said Mr Gioserano.

Yunus Valli for O'Grady said the first he knew about his television appearance was when his father watched the documentary.

He said he had suffered greatly since the screening of the programme and so had other members of his family.

"He is a hard working young man and he is not a racist. This was a spontaneous incident, not planned and drink had a substantial part to play," said Mr Valli.

Recorder of Leeds, Judge Norman Jones QC, told the pair the offence was

to do with drunken rowdiness and not politics.

He sentenced both men to a community punishment order of 180 hours and ordered each to pay £200 legal costs.