York racist hate crime letters investigated by police

Officers are treating the letters as a hate crime, said police

North Yorkshire Police are investigating after racist letters were sent to homes in York.

Nicoletta Peddis, shared a letter asking her to "go back werever (sic) you come from" on Twitter, and said the content was "really unpleasant".

Ms Peddis, originally from Italy, has lived in the city for 13 years and said she was now considering leaving the UK.

Police said the letters were being treated as a hate crime and contained racist content.

Ms Peddis told the Local Democracy Reporting Service receiving the abusive mail had left her angry and sad but the the supportive response on Twitter had made a "big difference".

"Mostly I felt sad. It's really unpleasant and uncalled for.

"Nothing this bad has happened to us in York before. This is another level, to receive this in your own home. It is unsettling. They know where we live.

"We have considered moving if I'm honest," the Nestlé worker added.

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Ali Gumusler, who has lived in the city for 22 years, also received a copy of the same letter. He said he felt targeted as the letter was addressed to his home.

The misspelt and badly-punctuated letter said: "We have won Brexit. Its time for you to go back werever you come from. We dont need foregneirs taking our housing our jobs our gp places. We wont be happy until you people leave our country."

Insp Andy Godfrey said: "We understand that these letters in York have caused concern and we want to assure those affected, and those in the wider community, that we are taking this matter very seriously and are determined to find who is responsible for sending them."