Britain First deputy Jayda Fransen 'aggressive' to Muslim

Jayda Fransen (left) and Paul Golding (right) deny religiously-aggravated harassment

The deputy leader of Britain First was "aggressive" towards a Muslim man and called Muslims "bastards" and "rapists", a court has been told.

Jayda Fransen, 31, is accused of religiously-aggravated harassment alongside the leader of the far-right group, Paul Golding, 36.

The pair, both from Penge in south-east London, deny the charges.

Folkestone Magistrates' Court was shown online footage of Ms Fransen asking Faiz Rahmani: "Are you Muslim?".

Ms Fransen is charged with four counts of causing religiously-aggravated harassment, while Mr Golding faces three counts.

They were arrested in May last year as part of an investigation into the distribution of leaflets and online videos, which were posted during a trial at Canterbury Crown Court where three Muslim men and a teenager were convicted of rape and jailed.

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On the first day of their trial at Folkestone magistrates, video footage entitled "Muslim rapists 2" - which was uploaded to the Britain First website - was played.

It showed Mr Rahmani standing with his brother Tamin Rahmani, who was one of the defendants, and his barrister outside by the door to Canterbury Crown Court.

Ms Fransen was seen asking both men why they were there and "what are you in for?".

She also questioned them about Muslim men who were standing trial for "raping British kids", the court heard.

'Aggressive and loud'

In another video, Ms Fransen asked Mr Rahmani about the "Muslim grooming scandal" and asked him: "Do you know about Rotherham?" and if he understood the word "terrible".

Mr Rahmani told the court: "She was so aggressive, and so loud."

Kevin Smallcombe, defending, questioned why the allegations of being called "bastards" and "rapists" were not shown on the videos played in court.

Mr Rahmani said the video shown had part of the conversation missing and there was a longer version uploaded to YouTube.

'Angry'

Another witness, Jamshed Khesrow, told the court about an incident on 5 May last year when he was visiting 555 Pizza takeaway, which his friend owns in Ramsgate.

He said he heard Ms Fransen outside screaming and shouting: "Come out you paedophile. You're a rapist. Come outside, I want to talk to you."

He said: "I was so scared, I thought she was going to start fighting with me. She was very aggressive and angry."

Mr Khesrow said he told the owner to dial 999 but heard Ms Fransen shout: "I'm not scared of the police. I don't care about the police."

The trial continues.