Ex-EastEnders star Katie Jarvis, who launched a drunk racist tirade on a seafront, repeatedly claiming “black lives don’t matter” and bragging she was in the BBC soap, has been handed a community order.
Jarvis, 30, who played Hayley Slater in the BBC One soap from 2018 to 2019, admitted racially aggravated harassment and common assault at Basildon Crown Court yesterday.
The performer, who gave a tearful statement after her sentencing, had previously pleaded not guilty to the charges, but changed her plea the day her trial had been scheduled to take place.
The actress spewed racist abuse in front of children while walking along the seafront in Southend-on-Sea in July 2020, in a tirade that lasted about forty minutes before she was arrested, Cyrus Shroff, prosecuting, said.
The chaotic scene started at around 7.30pm, after Jarvis got in an argument with four women who were sitting at a fish and chip restaurant on the Eastern Esplanade, and she tried to take a chair which one of the group was going to use.
Jarvis was told she could not use the chair, and the argument escalated, to the point Jarvis shouted “black lives don’t matter anyway”, and said: “black c***s, I’m a celebrity.”
“She then repeated ‘black lives don’t matter’ and ‘black c***s’, it appears a fight a broke out between the parties,” Shroff said.
However, Jarvis strenuously denied physically assaulting anybody, her barrister, Patrick Harte said.
One of the group described how the incident left her feeling “disgusted and angry.”
“There were children around, I couldn’t believe in 2020 this is still being said, it traumatised me and reminded me of growing up in the eighties in an estate in London," she said.
An independent witness described lunging towards the group of four, and "knocking over a table and a barrier", Mr Shroff said.
Later, shortly after 8pm, Jarvis walked past people queuing for a takeaway restaurant, including two young boys, where another witness reported she shouted "racist abuse" such as "black lives don't matter, all lives matters", as well as the n-word, the last of which Ms Jarvis denies.
The witness asked her to move on, with Ms Jarvis saying: "I was on EastEnders, I'm a celebrity."
At around 8.10pm, the police approached the actress to get her details, and four teenagers told officers she was abusive to them too.
Jarvis was "shouting and swearing" that she had been "jumped on by black "b****es"," Mr Shroff said.
A worker at an arcade also complained about Ms Jarvis' behaviour, the court was told.
A witness reported she was screaming so loud you could see the "veins in her face".
It was also heard that on the same day, she assaulted and was abusive towards a doorman after he refused her entry to a bar, and she then later returned.
Yesterday Mr Shroff said the victim “was in the position to allow a child to use the toilet in the bar”, and Jarvis accepts “spitting at the ground but not in his direction.”
After she was arrested, the mum admitted she was drunk.
In mitigation, Harte said Jarvis is "sorry for the people who heard awful language that day" and sorry to the doorman who was "simply doing his job."
Jarvis, who had been out celebrating that day with friends, says that after she got in argument with the women, they shouted "black lives matter", to which she responded, "black lives don't matter, all lives matter".
She says she didn't "use any racist slur", until after incident "turned physical".
In a character reference read to the court, Ms Jarvis' aunt, who is afro-Caribbean, said she found the language her niece used "upsetting", but she knows the actress is not a racist.
Mr Harte said: "What we have hear is someone who used racist language but clearly doesn't hold racist views."
He said the incident had caused her huge "hardship" and she hadn't filmed anything since 2020.
Jarvis was handed a two year community order by Her Honour Judge Leigh, with 200 hours unpaid leave and 60 hours of rehab.
The actress had also been charged with two counts of assault by beating, which she denied.
The judge instructed that one of these counts lie on the file, with a not guilty verdict recorded in respect of the second.
The actress' other roles include the lead part Mia Williams in the 2009 drama Fish Tank.
Fish Tank won the Jury Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and Jarvis was awarded the Most Promising Newcomer gong at the British Independent Film Awards for her role.
