A woman has spoken out after she was verbally attacked in a local park which included racist abuse being hurled at her.

Natalie Emmersons, 41, who was born in South Africa and has a prominent South African accent, said that she has experienced a fair amount of racism since moving to Berkshire.

She feels people have become increasingly unkind since covid and suggested that the pandemic has made a lot of the population more hateful.

Ms Emmersons works as a full-time dog trainer and was training a cockapoo puppy in Jennett's Park when she was involved in an altercation with another dog walker.

She said “This woman was walking up the path towards me and the pup so I went onto the grass.

“I would normally ask someone approaching to put their dog on a lead but this can annoy people, so I decided not to.”

The woman then scolded Ms Emmersons for walking on the grass, telling her that birds were ground-nesting in the area.

Natalie told the woman that she was aware of the birds but was trying to make space for both them and their dogs.

“She said that the birds are very rare, which I know, but I told her that if she had her dog on a lead then I wouldn’t have to be on the grass,” Ms Emmersons said.

The woman’s dog then started approaching the puppy and Ms Emmerson asked her to recall her dog so her client’s cockapoo wouldn’t be in danger.

“I wasn’t worried that her dog may be aggressive, but this is my job and it’s on me if the client’s pet has a bad interaction. A lot of dogs also don’t like puppies, so I have to be careful.”

The woman’s dog did not respond, so Ms Emmersons reminded her that having her dog out of control and off a lead is a criminal offence. “She could be fined £1000 for that,” she said.

The woman then told Ms Emmersons that she had been walking her dog in this park for the last 14 years and then proceeded to swear and hurl abuse at her.

“She then swore at me and said that I’m not even from this country. It’s an easy target I guess, I’m obviously not from this country,” Ms Emmersons said.

“I don’t mind not being from here, but I think it’s just something that people can throw at me because it’s easy. It shows a fair amount of entitlement and says that ‘you don’t belong here,’

“It’s just really cheap.”