A mum spewed vile racist abuse at another woman in the Trafford Centre car park while her little boy begged her to stop.
Emma Fallon, of Eliza Street, St Helens, swore and hurled racist insults after a car 'cut her up' on the motorway, MEN reports.
Fallon's son, who was only six years old at the time, was in the car and had pleaded with his mum not to confront the victim on July 20 last year.
Tess Kenyon, prosecuting, told Manchester Magistrates' Court : "The complainant was making her way to the Trafford Centre at 1pm. She was the passenger and her husband was driving.
"The defendant, the passenger, put the window down and said 'remember me? We were the people on the motorway you couldn't give way to, f****** ar*******'.
"She was described as being really angry. The more she was shouting the angrier she seemed to get."
The victim could hear Fallon's little boy begging her to stop from inside the car, with Ms Kenyon telling the court: "At one point she could hear a small child in the back of the other car saying 'no mum."
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Fallon, 39, then got out and walked round to the driver's side of her victim's car before 'hitting' the vehicle, the court heard.
Ms Kenyon said: "As she walked away she said 'f*** off you p***."
She then left the scene and 'stuck two fingers up', the court heard.
The victim said she was Pakistani and said the 'racist term' upset her deeply, the court heard.
Ms Kenyon told the court that Fallon said the reason for her behaviour was due to the incident on the motorway, which had meant her car had to switch lanes. She said it 'caused her to panic and she accepted that she overreacted'.
Addressing Fallon, chairman of the bench Richard Lenderyou said: "Somebody cut you up on the motorway, how did it escalate?"
Responding, the defendant said: "My little boy screamed, he thought we were going to have a car crash.
"I'm very protective of my family. One of the worst things I fear is my little boy growing up without a mum or a dad.
"Something in me snapped, I can't explain what it was. For the life of me I don't know why I did it."
She told the court she had written a letter of apology to the victims.
She previously pleaded guilty to racially/religiously aggravated intentional harassment/alarm or distress in words or writing.
She has no previous convictions, the court heard.
Footage of the incident was played to Manchester Magistrates' Court on Monday, November 23.
Representing herself, a visibly emotional Fallon told the court: "It's completely out of character. I should never have done it.
"When we saw them the way they made it sound was like I woke up and thought 'I'm going to cause trouble'.
"That was not my intention. I didn't foresee that coming. For the life of me I don't know why I did it. I can't explain how sorry I am to everybody involved. To my family as well, and little boy, I have upset them. I have held my hands up."
Fallon was sentenced to a community order for 12 months. She was also told to carry out 60 hours of unpaid work.
Mr Lenderyou said it was 'inexcusable to racially abuse the lady in the car'.
He said: "You have done it in front of the child. I'm sure this will be something that will stay with you for a long time."
