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Police are investigating after a take-away driver was caught on CCTV ripping down a cross as he delivered a curry to a churchgoer’s home.

Georgia Savva, 48, noticed the Palm Sunday cross, which had been by her front door for almost a decade, torn into pieces and scattered on the doormat when she left for work the next day.

She asked her two children to check the family’s security cameras and was stunned to discover a driver for Romna Gate Tandoori had snatched it down the previous evening.

Moments later in the video, he is seen smiling at her teenage son, handing over the curry and collecting a generous tip.

Mrs Savva, a Greek Orthodox Christian who lives in Southgate, said she now feels sick at having eaten at the restaurant for many years, spending thousands of pounds.

She has reported the incident to police as a hate crime. “There is no way I’m going to let my children think that sort of behaviour is OK. If I can prosecute, I will,” she said.

The family ordered a takeaway from the restaurant, a few minutes away, and it was delivered at 11pm on Monday. Mrs Havva, a finance worker in the City, said: “When I left in the morning I saw the cross ripped up on the floor. I thought, ‘That couldn’t be a fox.’

“My son looked at the CCTV and called me up at work to say it was the delivery driver. I couldn’t believe it. It was heavy-duty, nailed down, I’ve had it for eight years since I moved in. He had to yank it hard twice to rip it out. Then when he answered the door to my son he was really cheerful, and said, ‘Hello sir,’ he got a good tip.

“I was fuming and went straight to them after work. They just smiled and told me to leave a number. My daughter who is only a teenager says she doesn’t want to answer the door to someone harbouring hate like that, and she’s quite right. There is no place for this hate in London.”

The restaurant sent Mrs Savva a written apology and issued a statement on its Facebook page. It reads: “We sincerely apologise for the actions of this employee... we have taken immediate action to suspend the driver in question pending further investigation.

"We wish to make it clear that the delivery man ... does not represent the views of the family, ownership, management, front or backroom staff or ... Bangladeshi community.

"Should this matter require police investigation we will not hesitate to co-operate.”

A Met spokesman said that detectives from Enfield’s Community Safety Unit were investigating and added: “A 55-year-old man has been interviewed under caution, he was not arrested. Inquiries continue.”