A HAMPSHIRE woman racially abused a mother of three in front of dozens of shoppers.

Jane Gordon, 50, told a black woman to "[go back] to where she came from" in a vile tirade after her victim tried to step in when Gordon was shouting at a boy.

Jobless Gordon pleaded guilty to yelling the racist abuse and mistreating the child at Brighton Magistrates Court yesterday. The court heard the fracas started after Gordon, who was drunk after drinking in The Prince of Wales pub metres from Churchill Square Shopping Centre, Brighton, started tearing into the boy on Friday, October 27 last year.

Prosecutor Roger Booth told the court: "It was around 3.20pm and Gordon was outside the pub, and she was evidently drunk.

"The victim, Mari Quashie, after going to buy water, saw that her eight-year-old son sitting on a bench outside the pub was upset. She then noticed a young boy hanging around another bench and the defendant shouting and swearing at him, over and over again as the boy had his head down and hands over ears.

"Ms Quashie asked if she would mind toning it down because she could see what was going on and because her son was sitting next to it."

Gordon then launched into a tirade saying '[go back] where you came from’."

Even when a police community support officer (PCSO) turned up, Gordon continued her rant saying "blacks should go back to their own country" before trying to pick up a chair at one point and pushing past PCSO Darren Farrant who ended up scratching his arm.

The court heard the woman smelt of alcohol when she was arrested and taken to the police station.

The court heard more than 70 passers by witnessed the fracas.

Defending, Samantha Greenwood said Gordon has longstanding mental health issues and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after an abusive relationship, in which she was stabbed.

Gordon, of Havant, Hampshire, pleaded guilty to racially aggravated alarm and distress and a charge relating to the mistreatment of the child. Charges of assaulting a PCSO were dismissed.

Chairman of the magistrates' bench Nigel Peacock adjourned sentencing to next month and warned she could face prison.