Former X Factor finalist Rachel Hylton told an Iceland shop worker to “go back to Africa” when she was caught stealing groceries worth £26, a court heard.
The 37-year-old, who starred in series five of the reality show in 2008, was spotted by Peter Njoku putting food into her shopping bag and trying to leave the Croydon store without paying.
When challenged, Hylton shouted out “He’s a f***ing African. You f***ing black man”, and threw a shopping basket at Mr Njoku, Croydon magistrates heard.
Hylton gained fame when she was mentored by Dannii Minogue and came sixth in the contest that was won by Alexandra Burke and also featured chart-topping boyband JLS.
She entered the reality show because she wanted a better life for her children after fighting drug addiction and a spell in prison, but was criticised for making a gun gesture on live TV and hit out at press coverage of her criminal past when she was eventually eliminated.
This week, magistrates heard Hylton continues to be a drug user and had been jailed for 26 weeks in June 2017 when caught carrying a knife.
Prosecutor Rahab Njoroge said Hylton was caught shoplifting at the Iceland store in Surrey Street, Croydon, on February 16, as she bypassed the tills and headed to the exit.
Mr Njoku and a colleague “brought the defendant back into the shop and [she] was very aggressive,” he said. “She grabbed the bag she was carrying and there was a struggle and the defendant was shouting: ‘He’s a f***ing African. You f***ing black man. Go back to Africa.’” Hylton assaulted a second staff member when she “used her finger to poke her face in a threatening and aggressive way”, the court heard.
She pleaded guilty to theft, two charges of assault, and one of using racially aggravated threatening behaviour to cause harassment, alarm, or distress.
The court heard Hylton attended only a third of her probation sessions when released from her 2017 prison sentence, and has been diagnosed with depression and emotionally unstable personality disorder.
District Judge Susan Holdman deferred the sentencing hearing for six months so that Hylton can attend a residential drugs rehabilitation course.
Hylton, from Croydon, will be sentenced on January 31. When contacted by the Standard, she declined to comment on the case, saying: “I don’t want to talk about that.”