Hate letter village still 'lovely' - councillor

The parish council said it condemned letters sent to residents of Shiptonthorpe

Parish councillors in a village where anonymous letters have created “poison” say they too have received hate mail.

In a Facebook post, Shiptonthorpe Parish Council chairman Victor Lambert said reports of hateful, mysterious letters being sent by an anonymous writer to residents had “cast a dark cloud” over the village.

He said councillors had also received anonymous letters, "some wishing harm to us", and that had caused "pain".

However, Mr Lambert said Shiptonthorpe was still a “lovely place to live”.

People on the receiving end of the “vulgar” mail, some of which has been seen by the BBC, said they had been "terrorised" through their letterboxes for the past two years.

They described the letters as “personal, obscene and targeted”.

However, Mr Lambert said some reports about letters sent within the village were “incorrect, unfair and full of inaccuracies”.

Sophie - not her real name – said she received her first letter in December 2022 and reported it to police.

The letter accused her of being a “loose woman”.

Humberside Police confirmed it received a report of the letter and made inquiries at the time, including reviewing CCTV.

The content of the alleged letter was “unavailable” so it was not investigated any further.

'Caring dear friend'

Another person, named Sam - not his real name - received a letter claiming to be from a friend, urging him “to be honest” with himself.

The note, which the BBC has seen, warned Sam about his wife's private life, urging him to stop her from “roaming”.

The letter was signed: “From a caring dear friend."

Humberside Police said it received a report from a man who felt concerned after he received an anonymous letter to his home address.

“Officers reviewed the letter, however the content was not found to contain any aggressive language and it was established that no criminal offences had been committed," the force said.

Mr Lambert said the letters were "repugnant, causing hurt and distress."

"We all have simply got on with our voluntary role as councillors trying to serve the community to the best of our ability," he added.

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