He reportedly shouted "Sieg Heil" and banged the glass panel of the dock as he was jailed for 18 months.

Hennigan was in breach of an Asbo imposed in 2005 when a swastika was discovered daubed on the front door of his council house.

Prosecutor Lynne Shirley told the court that Tanisha Ford, a black Caribbean woman and her two children, aged eight and six and also black Caribbean, were in Market Square, Harlow.

She had recently moved to the town and was looking for a shop.

"She noticed the defendant waving at her," she said. "She approached him and he asked her if she was looking for a toilet. She said no, looking for Slimming World.