A woman who came to the attention of police after a YouTube video showed her hurling abuse at passengers on the London Underground faces jail after admitting causing harassment, alarm and distress.

Jacqueline Woodhouse, 42, was filmed abusing passengers on the Central line between St Paul's and Mile End station on 23 January.

The video, which was was shot by a Sikh passenger who was being abused by Woodhouse, was uploaded on to YouTube. It has been viewed more than 200,000 times.

Woodhouse, a secretary from Romford, Essex, told Westminster magistrates court that she had drunk "unknown" quantities of champagne at a retirement party before the incident.

Galbant Singh Juttla filmed her tirade, which began by her calling fellow passengers "foreign s**t heads".

She continued by pointing at Asian passengers and saying: "Where do you come from? Where do you come from? Where do you come from?

"I would like to know if any of you are illegal? I am sure 30 percent of you are.

"I wouldn't mind if you loved our country," she added.

Prosecuting, Clair Campbell told magistrates: "She then leaned towards the gentleman sitting next to her and said 'I will have you arrested because you do not live here'.

"The male pushed her away and she fell on to the adjacent seat.

"She stated: 'I hope you are not claiming benefits and I hope you pay your taxes.'

"Mr Juttla responded: 'I pay more taxes than you, love.'

"Mr Juttla pulled the emergency alarm fearing an escalation of events and to enable her to be removed from the train," Campbell continued.

Adjourning sentence to 29 May, District Judge Elizabeth Roscoe said: "Bearing in mind the level of abuse, the persistence of the abuse, the number of people on the train unable to leave without aborting their journey, and the children present means that I think the court has to have a pre-sentence report.

"All options are open to the sentencing court, including committal or immediate custody."

Outside the court, Juttla, a single father of two from Ilford, Essex, who runs a printing company, said: "'I found it very distressing.

"I uploaded it to YouTube because I thought that was the fast-track process to catching this person.

"I also needed to show the public that kind of person is out there and not to put up with this kind of behaviour.

"My kids have seen the video and they are disgusted by it. They don't expect for someone to shout abuse at their dad."

London