Anguish of teacher falsely labelled racist over doctored video

Ms Bennett said she only learned of the doctored video when her phone was bombarded with emails from students and parents alike, some of whom accused her of being a racist.

Those messages, Ms Bennett said, included: “I didn’t expect a teacher of your standards to be using such racial slurs.”

But she did not know to what they referred until a parent sent her the video which was already circulating online.

On viewing it she recalled: “I literally just panicked and broke down in tears.”

Ms Bennett was canvassing in the Black Country ahead of local elections when she was recorded. Footage showed the slur seemingly being uttered shortly after asking a resident about their voting intentions.

When the footage was shared by Mr Yakoob on TikTok, where he has a following of more than 210,000, he accused the initially unnamed woman of racism. He also urged those “still in the Labour Party” to leave.

People then suggested who it was that was featured. Mr Yakoob, standing at the time as an independent candidate in the West Midlands mayoral election and also for Birmingham Ladywood in the general election, went on to share Ms Bennett’s name and where she worked.

Ms Bennett said people who claimed to be journalists, but refused to show identification, turned up at her family members’ homes, demanding to know her whereabouts and saying they were trying to “hunt her down”.

She told the BBC: “To begin with I tried being strong but there were still days where I felt it wouldn’t get any better.

“There were times where I did question, if I were to just end it all, would it be easier? Because I felt like my life, my career, my reputation, would never be the same again.

“I couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel and it was a struggle to get through each day.”

But then there was a light.