EastEnders actress Linda Henry been cleared of calling a council warden a n***** after being asked to pick up a cigarette butt.

The 55-year-old, who plays Danny Dyer’s on-screen mother Shirley Carter, was also accused of saying ‘Do you know who I am? I’m Shirley’ to Iyabo Adetokunbo.

Henry hugged supporters in court as she was cleared by a judge of racism yesterday afternoon following the alleged incident outside a branch of a Jamie Oliver restaurant in September last year.

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.’

The court was read a transcript of Henry’s police interview.n it, she told the officer that, when approached by Ms Adetokunbo, she said ‘What?’, not knowing what the warden wanted.

Henry continued: ‘I said “Well, if you know who I am, go away and leave me alone”.’

Asked if she had said to the woman ‘Do you know who I am?’, Henry told the interviewing officer: ‘I can swear to God, I would do a lie detector, I would do anything.

‘I would never, ever, ever, say that to a member of the public, or anybody.’

The court heard that Henry took a sharp breath when it was put to her that the allegations were that she had called the warden ‘n*****’.

Henry told court that she lives in the multi-racial area of Peckham, is married to a Greek man, and has a ‘mixed-race daughter’.

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