“It was horrible, horrible, when I think back, that I did that.”

Liam Neeson has said that he once armed himself with the intent of killing a black person after someone close to him told him that she had been raped.

Speaking to the Independent while promoting his new movie Cold Pursuit, the actor went on to say that his behaviour at the time was “horrible” and “awful”.

“She handled the situation of the rape in the most extraordinary way,” he said in the interview. “But my immediate reaction was, ‘Did she know who it was?’ ‘No.’ ‘What colour were they?’ She said it was a black person.

“I went up and down areas with a cosh, hoping I’d be approached by somebody. I’m ashamed to say that, and I did it for maybe a week – hoping some ‘black bastard’ would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could kill him.

“It was horrible, horrible, when I think back, that I did that. And I’ve never admitted that, and I’m saying it to a journalist. God forbid.”

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Neeson added: “It’s awful. But I did learn a lesson from it, when I eventually thought, ‘What the f**k are you doing’, you know?

“I come from a society – I grew up in Northern Ireland in the Troubles – and, you know, I knew a couple of guys that died on hunger strike, and I had acquaintances who were very caught up in the Troubles, and I understand that need for revenge, but it just leads to more revenge, to more killing and more killing.”

Digital Spy has reached out to Liam Neeson’s reps for comment.

Many people on social media have condemned Neeson for his behaviour.