Your support helps us to tell the story
At first glance, the small village of Shiptonthorpe in Yorkshire appears to be like any other sleepy community on a busy road with a petrol station, two churches and shop.
But dig further and speaking to locals reveals a bizarre state of affairs with the tiny population being terrorised by anonymous abusive letters. The poison pen letter scandal has even led some to comparing the case with the TV series Bridgerton.
“Whoever’s doing it is quite professional,” village Councillor Leo Hammond told The Independent.
Like Lady Whistledown’s troublemaking in the period TV drama, Councillor Hammond said countless people in the village, which has a population of around 500 people, have been targeted – including elderly residents, parish councillors and volunteers.
One resident received a blank Christmas card that was simply filled with the word “c*nt”. While parish council chair, Victor Lambert, was told by the poison pen writer that they hoped he would be “run over by a bus on the A1079”.
Councillor Hammond has himself received around eight letters, with the first arriving through his letterbox in November 2022.
“The first one was quite a shock,” he said, “but I do expect to receive a little slack as a politician.”
Another letter, shared in the residents’ Facebook group, said that they hoped the recipient would become a victim of climate change “so your house can get flooded again and again”.
It added: “Most people in Shiptonthorpe are wanting rain and floods so you are washed away never to be seen again.”
Councillor Hammond said the letters, which have been posted via the Royal Mail and not by hand, come in several formats including being handwritten and “typed on different machines” with several fonts and paper sizes.
“Some of them, weirdly, have been signed by people who don’t exist,” he added.
Humberside Police have launched an investigation into the issue. The Independent has also contacted the Royal Mail for comment.
“I think I had my last letter earlier this year. At least two people have had them this month, and I think somebody else got one in August,” Councillor Hammond said.
Questions have naturally turned to who is behind the letters.
Like in most villages the parish council is at the heart of the community - and it’s here, where decisions are taken, where Councillor Hammond suspects the wrath might be aimed.
Recent issues have reportedly upset some residents including rumours the village parish hall was to be let out commercially.
Councillor Hammond said: “The really sad thing is that it’s a really nice village. It’s very socially active and a very united community. So it’s sad that it’s getting this really bad press over the poor behaviour of one or two individuals.”
Mr Hammond added: “At the end of the day, the parish councillors and volunteers are trying to do good stuff for their local village or the local community.
“I'm assuming whoever's doing this is very plugged into the community to care this much to do this and have a very big ego.”
