EastEnders actress Linda Henry has been cleared of racially abusing a council warden after being asked to pick up a cigarette butt.
The actress was accused of telling a community warden “Do you know who I am, I’m Shirley”, before hurling racial abuse at her outside a Jamie Oliver restaurant.
The 55-year-old, who plays Danny Dyer’s on-screen mother, Shirley Carter, in the BBC show was found not guilty of calling the woman a “n*****” after being reprimanded for dropping a cigarette butt outside the premises.
The incident took place near Jamie’s Italian in Greenwich, south east London, on September 14.
Linda Henry at Bexley Magistrates Court (Gareth Fuller/PA)
Dressed in a black suit with white shirt, Henry dipped her head and embraced supporters after the verdict was read out.
Henry was charged under her married name, Varilis.
District Judge Nigel Dean said: “Ms Varilis is of previous good character, which means that she has enhanced credibility, in addition to which she is someone who does not have the propensity of behaving in the way that the Crown allege that she did on the occasion in September.”
Adding that there was no “corroborative evidence” to support the version of events given by the alleged victim, warden Iyabo Adetokunbo, he dismissed the charge against her.
