An art student whose burka sculpture was destroyed days after the Brexit poll by a woman who shouted: “We voted to take our country back,” says she now feels unwelcome in London.

Yasmeen Sabri, 24, was putting the finishing touches to her £6,000 work when Mikaela Haze, 70, walked into the Royal College of Art in South Kensington and ripped the veil from its metal frame.

Haze also screamed: “Saudi Arabia go home,” before knocking the sculpture to the ground on June 29.

Masters student Miss Sabri had spent six months creating the work, called Walk A Mile In Her Veil, for an exhibition to “promote tolerance and understanding”. Today she said: “I’ve never experienced anything like it.”

At Westminster magistrates’ court Haze, of Bayswater, pleaded guilty to religiously aggravated criminal damage and will be sentenced next week.

Miss Sabri, originally from Jordan, has lived in London for six years. She said she had witnessed an increase in racially motivated crime since the referendum vote: “It’s obviously connected to Brexit. People are taking it as an excuse to be rude to others.

“It’s crazy. It’s not right. It’s a way to divide people. We are all human and it doesn’t matter if we were born under a different nationality or religion.

“It suddenly really feels like I’m not from this country. Obviously I’m not from this country, but I felt like I belonged in London and now it feels like I should go home.”

Miss Sabri, who lives in Islington, said that despite her distress at the time of the incident she had asked police to drop charges before the hearing.

“She’s a 70-year-old and was intoxicated,” the student added. “It’s no excuse but I thought if I forgive her there’s more chance of me changing her mind about foreigners.

“I just thought it was better energy to be forgiving — my work is about empathy.”

She said she did not want Haze to be sent to prison, adding: “I’m happy she pleaded guilty. It was probably more because of alcohol than bigotry.

“I obviously don’t want her to go to jail. She is quite old — I can’t imagine my nanna going to jail. But if she goes to rehab that would be a good thing.”

In court, Haze said: “I plead guilty but I don’t consider it racist because it wasn’t at her, I promise you. I’m very sorry to the lady I offended.”

She is on conditional bail ahead of sentencing on July 26, and is barred from entering the RCA. Miss Sabri managed to fix the sculpture and it featured in the Walking Women event at Somerset House.

To see more of Miss Sabri’s work visit yasmeensabri.com