A British woman who had “muzzies out” yelled at her while on the way to a south-west London mosque has blamed the shocking incident on a “post-Brexit” atmosphere.

Muslim journalist Myriam Francois was heading to prayers at her local mosque just before 11pm last night when she saw a group of around six men walking in her direction.

She told the Standard: “The two guys that were ahead of the others shouted 'muzzies out' and the others started laughing.

“I just stopped in my tracks.”

Ms Francois said she briefly considered challenging her abusers – who she described as a diverse group of young men - but realised she was greatly outnumbered.

The journalist, who is presenting a programme called the Muslim Pound about brands targeting Muslim consumers this Sunday, said: “It’s just another day post-Brexit.”

She went on: “I’ve experienced stuff before but I suppose this was very blatant and very open.

“There were other people in the street despite it being so late but it was very blasé.”

Her experience follows a spate of racist and xenophobic attacks in the capital following the EU referendum, including graffiti daubed on a Hammersmith Polish community centre.

Ms Francois said: “It could happen at any time that someone shouts at you ‘muzzies out’ but the kind of thing I’ve heard in the past is stuff like ‘f*** off you r**head’.

“This is the first time someone’s been so overt saying that they don’t want you here.”

The National Police Chiefs' Council said today that reports to their online hate crime site had risen by 57 per cent in the past four days compared to this time last month.

Earlier today, Sadiq Khan has joined with Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe to warn Londoners to be vigilant against hate crime in the capital.

He said: “It's really important we stand guard against any rise in hate crimes or abuse by those who might use last week's referendum as cover to seek to divide us.”