“Death to Islam” graffiti daubed on walls of cottage in Alnwick, Northumberland

Categories: Latest News
Wednesday July 13 2016
The Chronicle reports on an Islamophobic incident in Alnwick, Northumberland where a disused cottage owned by Northumberland County Council was vandalised with the words “Death to Islam”, swastikas and other offensive graffiti sprayed on the exterior walls.
Police were alerted to the graffiti around 7.30pm on Tuesday 12 July. Officers are conducting enquiries in the local area to solicit public information in connection with the incident and extra patrols have been put in place to reassure locals.
Retired policeman Doug Thomas told the paper his wife spotted the graffiti as she walked past the cottage on Tuesday evening around 6.30pm.
Mr Thomas told the paper, “The graffiti said Death to Islam with some swastikas.
“The police and council were there. My wife had gone past it at half six, she rang me up to tell me about it.
“Everybody was stopping because it was so prominent.”
The local council were quick to remove the offensive markings. Mr Thomas said the graffiti had been removed by half past nine the same evening.
A neighbour living in the area observed that Alnwick has hardly any immigrants or Muslims despite the graffiti targeting both groups. She said: “It was unbelievable to see it this morning. If the message was against immigrants and Muslims, Alnwick has hardly got either.
Alnwick councillor Gordon Castle condemned the “truly depressing” act and said such graffiti had not been seen in the area before.
He said: “If there are these sorts of views in Alnwick, they’ve been extremely well hidden.
While the obvious connection would seem the rise in post-Brexit racist and anti-Muslim incidents, Cllr Castle added: “It would be easy to link this to Brexit, but I would like to think that this wasn’t a result of the referendum.
“We’ve seen across the country an increase in hate crime, I hope this is not part of that, but you must not rule it out.”
Inspector Sue Fryer, of Northern Area Command, said officers were investigating the incident making local enquiries while the force was responding with extra patrols in the area.
She said, “This is an isolated incident but we will not tolerate this type of behaviour in our region and will be doing all we can to identify those responsible.
“Any witnesses, or anyone with any information that could help police, should contact officers on 101 quoting reference 175 12/07/16.”