The little UK village rocked by mystery writer posting vile hate letters to locals | UK | News

A village has become what some have described as a “village of poison” after a series of anonymous hate letters have been sent to a number of the residents.

The tiny parish of Shiptonthorpe, situated in the East Riding of Yorkshire, is about half an hour away from York, and locals have been “terrorised” by the letters for two years with no let-up as to who the perpetrator is.

Many will have heard the strikingly similar story about the anonymous vitriolic letters sent to the residents of Littlehampton, a small seaside town in Sussex, in 1920. The true story has since been made into a 2023 period comedy drama Wicked Little Letters, starring Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley.

While Humberside Police has investigated a few of the letter incidents in Shiptonthorpe, the culprit is still at large. One of the villagers, known as Sophie, received her first letter back in 2022 and reported it to the police.

She told the BBC: “It was vile, I ripped it up, I couldn’t believe where it had come from or why I’d received it.”

“It was accusing me of what you could call being a loose woman. It said the only way I would ever get anywhere within politics would be if I were to perform unspeakable things to men.”

The letter ended by suggesting Sophie be “turned out on the Beverley Westwood pasture with the rest of the cows.” According to Humberside Police: “Inquiries were carried out at the time, including reviewing CCTV.”

Sophie’s partner Sam has also received letters from the wicked writer, urging him “to be honest” with himself and to stop Sophie from “roaming” The letter was signed off as “From a caring dear friend.”

Humberside Police said: “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.”

Another letter to a different villager said: “I hope cancer finds you.”

Some villagers were so upset by the letter fiasco they reportedly left Shiptonthorpe.

Shiptonthorpe resident Jason said: “People come here for a quiet, tranquil, community-spirited life and that’s being damaged badly by one or two devilish people. In my opinion, I believe this constitutes a hate crime.”

Conservative Councillor for The Wolds Weighton Ward of The East Riding of Yorkshire Council Leo Hammond addressed his followers on Facebook yesterday regarding the evil letters, to which he has been on the receiving end. He also believes there is more than one perpetrator

He said: “I also condemned the poison pen letters going around the village which myself, current parish councillors and previous parish councillors have received. I personally believe there are at least two authors of these letters – both are very sad and frankly cowardly. This must stop!”