Police investigating letter that told gay couple they were ‘not welcome’ in village
A gay couple had a letter posted through their door threatening them to leave or else they’d be “run out” of the village where they live.
North Yorkshire Police are launching an investigation into a letter that was posted to a gay couple, telling them they were not welcome in the village where they live.
Justin Heaven posted a picture of the letter on Facebook, it told him to put his house up for sale and get out of the village of Hemingbrough in Yorkshire.
The letter reads: “This is a respectable village. We do not like gays living here, we do not want a load of gays coming and going day and night.”
The letter was sent anonymously and accused Heaven and his partner of having “young lads” coming to stay with them.
Justin Heaven told PinkNews: “It arrived in the post Tuesday morning as I was leaving for work, I opened it in the hall and my first reaction was “what on earth do we do!”
“My partner and I work very hard and only moved into our dream house back in December. We love it, the house, the village and the people and I was amazed a letter full of such hatred had landed on our door mat.”
Justin said the couple have never had any problems with homophobia in the village before. He believes that the writer has been watching their house.
He said: “The only “young lads” we’ve had stay over were my partners young nephews and the thought of someone seeing us enter the house with them, thinking we’d abuse them – it makes my skin crawl.”
Justin shared the letter on a Hemingbrough Facebook page. It has had over 600 shares and comments of support and well wishes for the couple.
In a statement to PinkNews, a spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said: “The incident has been reported to us, and officers are due to meet the complainants. We take any report of hate crime extremely seriously, and would encourage anyone who could assist this investigation to contact North Yorkshire Police on 101.”
Justin, who is planning a wedding with his partner of 14 years, told PinkNews he feels pity for whoever sent them the letter.
“I hope this person is found, I’m not so much angry but pity them- having such anger and old fashioned opinions in 2015 and not having the strength of character to put their name to it or tell me in person- anyone can knock on our door and come in for a cup of tea if they have a problem with us.”
