Eastenders actress Linda Henry has been cleared of racially abusing a Greenwich town centre warden who tried to fine her for dropping a cigarette outside Jamie Oliver's restaurant.

The Peckham 55-year-old, who plays Shirley Carter in the BBC soap, was supported at Bexley Magistrates' Court today by family and fellow Eastender Cheryl Fergison.

Henry had denied launching into the "aggressive" tirade outside the Nelson Road restaurant on September 14 last year.

Black town centre warden Iyabo Adetokunbo said she and a colleague spied Henry and her husband smoking outside the restaurant and throwing their cigarettes to the ground but didn't recognise her at first.

But when she asked Henry for her name, the actress allegedly replied: "Don't you know who I am? I'm Shirley."

When pressed for her details, Henry gave her a "dodgy" address with an incorrect postcode, the court heard.

And after being challenged, Henry had allegedly shouted back: "F*** off n*****, who do you think you are?"

But defence lawyer Thea Viney suggested Miss Adetokunbo targeted Henry because she knew she was a celebrity, suggesting she may have been offered payment by a newspaper for her story or got her confused with the type of character she played.

Ms Viney told Ms Adetokunbo: "She didn't cooperate, she didn't give you her right details but she wasn't aggressive and she certainly never shouted out the words 'f*** off n*****' in the middle of the street."

"She did," the warden replied.

Taking to the witness box to defend herself, Henry told the court she finds the word n***** "repulsive" and would never use the racist slur.

She said: "If I heard somebody else call somebody else that, I would be absolutely outraged and I would call the police immediately, (not) wait until the next day.

"I think it is repulsive."

Describing the incident, she said Ms Adetokunbo challenged her about putting the cigarette out on the ground outside the restaurant, and conceded that she had initially given a fake address in the confrontation.

"She made a comment about she knows who I am and she will get me in the end," Henry said.

In a statement to the court, Henry's black co-star, Diane Parish, who plays Denise Fox in the soap, said she did not think the actress would use racist language such as that alleged.

Henry was cleared today of using threatening or abusive words that were likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress, and that the alleged offence was said to have been racially aggravated.

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.