This is the bizarre moment police stormed a couple's pub and seized their golliwog dolls - saying the toys were a suspected "hate crime".<br /><br />Benice Ryley, 61, was quizzed by six officers after police received an anonymous complaint about The White Hart Inn in Grays, Essex.<br /><br />She and husband Chris, 64, who is currently abroad, have displayed their collection of 15 dolls after receiving them as gifts from customers over the years.<br /><br />On Tuesday (4/4) Essex Police raided the pub and confiscated the dolls saying they were investigating a "hate crime".<br /><br />CCTV shows six officers walk into the bar and question Benice at a table. <br /><br />One officer inspects the bar before gathering the dolls and placing them into a clear evidence bag.<br /><br />Speaking to Thurrock Nub News, Bernice said: "Apparently a visitor to the pub had been quite upset about them and made a complaint.<br /><br />“Chris is away abroad and will be until the middle of May.<br /><br />"Police said as he is the licensee they need to interview him and they have taken the dolls away in the interim.”<br /><br />The couple have run the White Hart Inn for the past 17 years after taking over when the boozer had become run down.<br /><br />The raid comes after the couple refused to remove the black-faced dolls after the local authority received a complaint in 2018.<br /><br />Bernice added: "I don't understand why we have to go through all this again.<br /><br />"We have the police taking away information that is literally the history of this country. And why?<br /><br />"We are quite happy to call them dolls, not golliwogs, but even the officer who wrote down the inventory as he was taking them away described the larger one as a golliwog and the others as golly dolls.<br /><br />"So even the police don't know what to call them.<br /><br />"I understand that some people may not like them and they are entitled to that view, but they don't have to come into the pub.<br /><br />"As far as we are aware we are not breaking any laws by displaying them, and that was proved last time when we were investigated.<br /><br />"If we were not breaking the law then, why are we breaking the law now?<br /><br />"It took six officers to come and remove a shelf full of dollies. What a waste of taxpayers’ money.<br /><br />"When the police officers came, I pointed to the dolls and said ‘they haven't done anything.'<br /><br />"I think the racist people are the ones who complain – it’s their problem, not us.<br /><br />"I have so many different cultures come in here, we are definitely not racist. We do many Indian weddings, for example.”<br /><br />Benice is demanding the dolls are immediately returned and has vowed to put them back behind the bar.<br /><br />She fumed: "It is unreal - we haven't broken the law and there is no legal stuff that says I can't display them. It's just silly."<br /><br />A spokesperson for Essex Police said: "We are investigating an allegation of hate crime in Grays reported to us on 24 February.<br /><br />"On Tuesday, 4 April, we attended a location off Argent Street, Grays, and seized several items in connection with our investigation."
