for his family, writes Keith Hunt .

Leaving behind his oldest daughter Raine, 23, who works for an insurance company, he and his wife Ann, who used to work in a Bermuda bank, spent 11 months searching for the right pub in Britain.

"We looked at 137 before we found the one we wanted,'' he said. "We really liked it. We were so happy, I can't explain it in words. I had wanted my own pub since I was 14. If talking to anybody in Bermuda who knows me, they will say that all I ever talked about was a pub.'' After paying almost 400,000 (around $580,000) for the George and Dragon, all went well for nearly a year. Then trouble started among a disruptive element in Lamberhurst, Kent.

"It went downhill,'' said Mr. Evans. "I was called a white wog. I had never heard the term before. Racism to me was black and brown. The bully boys came round and caused trouble.

"My wife was beaten up. My daughter, who was then four, was cut across the stomach. We were told: `You don't call the police, no matter what happens. We told the police it was getting worse and worse. I reached the stage where nobody was going to help me.

"I thought I had to make a stand. It is like the bullies in the playground. I had to stand up to them. We had been building things up but now we were down to taking 2,000 a week. I looked at the figures and said we should get out.

"I thought: `This can't be happening. I haven't done anything to these people.

"I am from a British colony. I am as British as you are. There were a few people in the village who stuck by us, but they gradually disappeared.'' He told of why he and his family originally headed for England.

"I have always loved Bermuda,'' he said. "I would have liked to stay there and own a pub like Robin Hood or the Swizzle Inn. But they are never up for sale because they are good, profitable businesses.

"The only way I was going to have a pub was to go to England. It was something of an adventure. Now my whole life is devastated, but I am not going to give up. I have to provide a life for my family. The easiest way is to go back to Bermuda.

"I have mixed feelings about going home. I am going back as a failure. If I could pick up the pub and take it to Bermuda, fine.'' Mr. Evans said receivers were called in at the pub and he has been left with debts. His bank's attitude was that it was the last straw because custom had been driven away.

"It was a life's dream,'' he explained. "You realise that dream. I made a few mistakes but there was nothing I could do about what happened.'' He added: "I went to court because I wanted revenge. Justice is my revenge. I wanted to return for the sentence, but we will be gone by the end of the year.'' BUSINESS BUC CRIME CRM