Psychic grabs M&B by the crystal balls

Snifter was fascinated this week by the story of an Ilford psychic, who says she was banned from her local after complaining when a woman ripped a religious symbol from her forehead. She is suing the landlords for discrimination and is taking the matter to the High Court, seeking massive damages of more than £300,000.

Carolyn Reilly is suing pub owners Mitchells & Butlers, accusing them of permitting religious discrimination.

Reilly, who says that some people think she is a witch, claims an unknown woman approached her at O'Neill's pub in Ilford on 9 February, and pulled her bindi - a red dot worn between the eyebrows marking the location of the third eye, the eye of inner vision or spiritual wisdom - off her forehead. (She clearly didn't see that one coming.)

She was shocked and offended, and when the woman started laughing, she went to the doorman to point her out, according to a High Court writ that has just been made publicly available.

The writ says that the woman apologised, but when Reilly refused to accept what she claims was an insincere apology, and ac-cused the woman of lying she says the doorman told her to leave. She claims she had to go out into the rain without even picking up her cardigan.

Reilly says she complained to police, but when they arrived they found that the woman had left, and they could take no more action.

Reilly says when she returned to the pub to celebrate her birthday on 9 March, a customer told her she was barred when she was half way through her meal. Pub manageress Danni Bennett later told her she was barred for being drunk and aggressive to the doormen.

The writ says Reilly denies that she was aggressive or drunk and that she felt humiliated and insulted.

She complained to pub chain Mitchells & Butlers, which took over a month to make a substantive response.

When she met Bennett again on 4 May, she had expected an apology, a refund for her half eaten meal, and action against pub staff. Instead she says she was given a six-month ban.

The writ claims that she was the victim of a religious assault, her birthday was ruined, and she was left without a place to socialise.

It says that O'Neills was one of the few places where white people drink in Ilford, and that she had been going there for years, feeling comfortable about going there alone.