A black man shouted racist abuse at a white woman in the street, a jury heard.

George Black, 59, is accused of screaming at his alleged victim: "**** off back to where you come from." He is also accused of calling her a "white piece of ****."

Black, who has Jamaican roots, denies racially aggravated harassment at a trial at Lewes Crown Court.

The jury heard Black and his alleged victim, Grace Tatham, were neighbours in a block of flats in Downland Place, Southgate, Crawley, when the alleged confrontation took place on June 28 last year.

She said she was so upset by his behaviour she had been forced to get Crawley Borough Council to move her out of her home and had been prescribed antidepressant medication.

Black was already living at the flats when she moved there in September 2005.

At first there were no problems but she said as time passed he began to be aggressive and abusive.

She said when she went away to stay in London one weekend someone complained to the police about Black and when she returned he wrongly accused her of making the call.

The court heard that in the months leading up to the alleged offence Black is accused of repeatedly upsetting Ms Tatham, which made her nervous about bumping into him.

She said: "Every time I saw him he was very aggressive and argumentative and shouting and I was very frightened of him. A few times I thought he was going to hit me. He called me a white piece of ****."

Ms Tatham, the mother of a nineyear- old boy, claimed he threatened her family and her dog.

On the day of the alleged offence she was at Tesco when she saw him outside the store standing by the door staring at her.

As she walked home she claimed he followed her closely behind. She said: "As I turned around he said to me: What the **** are you looking at?' I carried on walking up the stairs and he carried on shouting abuse at me. I was very frightened. I was shaking.

"He was getting very aggressive. He started foaming at his mouth and spit got on my face."

She called the police to complain about his behaviour and later he knocked at her door and said: "Call the police again, you white piece of ****."

During cross-examination she denied she had lied about Black because he was a witness in a court case in which her ex-boyfriend was accused of assaulting another man. She said: "I have been through hell and back."

The court heard that when Black was arrested he denied being racially abusive to Ms Tatham. He accused her of calling him an informer.

Lawrence Henderson, prosecuting, told the jury: "This was racially aggravated because of the use of the word white. It was directed to a white woman." The trial continues.