Neighbour faces racial harassment charge over golliwog in window

Planning row between Suffolk villagers escalates to court case after doll put on display in window It began as a planning dispute between affluent neighbours in a Suffolk village, but resulted in the arrest of a woman accused of racially aggravated harassment after she displayed a golliwog in the window of her house. Jena Mason will appear before Lowestoft magistrates on Tuesday, Suffolk police said. The 65-year-old was arrested after her black neighbour, Rosemarie O’Donnell, complained about the doll. It appeared in the only window visible from the home of O’Donnell and her husband, Stephen, the couple said, after the disagreement over planning permission got out of hand. The row between the neighbours in the village of Worlingham started after Mason and her husband, Terry, who live in a 16th century manor house, applied for permission to build new stables on their land. Their son-in-law, who also lives in the manor house, is in training for the British Olympic dressage team and is understood to need the space for his horses. The O’Donnells, who live in a £1m barn conversion next door, hired a planning consultant to challenge the application, arguing that it would lead to an increase in traffic and boundary and right of way issues as well as raising the question of how organic waste from the horses would be disposed of. A golliwog then appeared on a ground-floor window sill in the Masons’ house, near the main entrance to the barn. Rosemarie O’Donnell, a 48-year-old businesswoman with Jamaican roots, said the doll was an affront to her and her two mixed-race children, and the sight of it had left her “shocked and upset”. She took a photograph of the doll and – days after planning permission for the new stables was granted by the local council – gave it to police and made a formal complaint. A police spokeswoman said: “We have had a complaint from a member of the public, we have investigated it and both the Crown Prosecution Service and ourselves have agreed there is enough to prosecute.” James Hartley, Mason’s solicitor, said his client was “devastated by what was going on” and intended to plead not guilty because the golliwog had ended up on the window shelf as she was tidying up her grandson’s toys. “It is an innocent act which has been interpreted in a completely different way,” he said. “She does not accept that she acted in a racial manner. It is a large house, and she lives there with other members of her family and there is a grandson who is 16 months old. She was tidying up the toys.” Mason is currently on bail and faces a penalty of up to £2,500 if found guilty of the offence. On Wednesday, O’Donnell’s 54-year-old husband, an IT executive, said the couple had had a number of disputes with the Masons over the stable plans and the Masons’ dogs, but dismissed the claim that the golliwog had been accidentally put on display. “It’s not a children’s toy,” he told the Daily Mail. “You can see it has buttons and other items on it. It was clearly deliberately placed on the window sill facing out of the window. I do not believe it was casually tossed up there. It has caused immense upset. You live in the countryside and you think you have got away from all this nonsense.” The couple moved to Manor Farm Barn, a five-bedroom conversion, in 2003 from Kent. Race issues Alexandra Topping guardian.co.uk

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