A Hastings businessman was arrested in front of his wife and children for allegedly saying the word 'likely' in an email to his Local Authority. A 'jobsworth' council official deemed the word 'offensive' to gypsies and called the police.
The offending word was contained in an email that was believed to have been sent by the businessman to Rother District Council in Sussex. The email referred to a planning dispute involving a gypsy Linda Smith, who had erected a mobile home in an area of outstanding natural beauty and overlooking the historic site of the Battle of Hastings. The email was sent to a council website and contained the words "It's the 'do as you likey attitude' that I am against". Council officials believed the term was offensive because it rhymed with the derogatory word 'pikey'. The email also contained the words "Get a job, get planning permission but more to the point get out of the neighbourhood". It later emerged that the 'offending' email was sent by a work colleague from his work computer.
The email was sent from a computer at the business mans firm but the first he knew about it was when two uniformed police officers arrived at his home. One moment he was enjoying his Sunday with his wife and 11 year old son, and the next he was under arrest on his way in a police car to Hastings Police Station.
The businessman, a father of two, said last night: ‘I had a sense of total disbelief. My wife and I decided to tell my 11-year-old son I had to go with the police because I had witnessed a road accident.
‘Even though the officers were fairly pleasant to me, I was informed I would be handcuffed if I didn’t go voluntarily. They then confiscated my computer and my wife’s computer and took them to the police station. ‘I was extremely angry. I was relaxing in the comfort of my home on a Sunday afternoon and then I was in a police car under arrest – all for an innocent comment by a colleague.’
He said: ‘I have never had any criminal record and try my best to teach my children right from wrong. This was a ridiculously heavy-handed police reaction to what they perceived as a racist comment. I am not the least bit racist and neither is Paul Osmond. The gypsy family concerned did not complain.
‘I did nothing wrong yet ended up in a police cell for four hours with my DNA stored on a criminal database.’
The arrest happened on November 15 and followed a three-year battle by a gypsy family to win planning permission for the mobile home on land outside the town of Battle.
The family bought a field from a farmer, put down a concrete base, and installed the mobile home at the end of a short driveway. Rother Council issued an enforcement notice against the building.
The businessman said he also objected to the council over the location of the mobile home, which is near his property.
He said: ‘It seems I have to get planning permission for everything I do right down to dead-heading the daffodils.
‘It seems they can erect this home with impunity. But I made my objections entirely through the proper channels and I have absolutely nothing against anyone in the gypsy community.’
The case finally ended last week when Mr Osmond, who was responsible for sending the email and who had been arrested and bailed, was told there would be no further police action. The planning case is continuing.
Mr Osmond, 39, of Icklesham, said: ‘I made it clear to them I am absolutely not racist. I said I was simply registering my objection to this application because it is 200ft from the most important and historical battlefield in the country. I now feel I am not even able to express an opinion for fear of being arrested by the police.
‘One of my closest friends is an Irish traveller and he uses the term 'pikey' all the time. This is the ultimate in political correctness going off the scale.’ Sussex Police said they had arrested the businessman over ‘suspicion of committing a racial or religious-aggravated offence’. After consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, it was decided to take no further action against Mr Osmond.
Chief Inspector Heather Keating said: ‘Sussex Police have a legal duty to promote community cohesion and tackle unlawful discrimination.
‘We are satisfied we acted appropriately in identifying the owner of the computer used and through this, the identity of the writer of the offending line.’
Police said they would hold the innocent men’s DNA indefinitely, which they said was in line with national policy.
It has been suggested locally that the reason for such police actions as this, is simply to boost the amount of DNA samples that are held by the police. At an estimated cost of £12,000 for this little fiasco, that is a very expensive collection process.
I suspect that the real reason is one much more sinister - to send warning signals to the people to keep quiet and not to rock the boat. The alternative is to spend the night in the police cells, an experience that the vast majority of people would be absolutely terrified by. Terrified into silence. Was the seizure of the businessman's computer equipment also a deliberate action, designed to send another powerful message?
Lets just picture the scene for a moment; a quiet Sunday afternoon in a quiet English village. A police car stops outside of your neighbours house and two uniformed police officers go into his house. We would all naturally be concerned as to whats happening, is it bad news? is it the children? Moments later your neighbour leaves the house with the police officers and gets into their car. Then all of his computer equipment is brought from the house and driven of with your neighbour.
Now, be honest what do you think is happening? They don't take computers away for nothing, do they? It can only mean one thing and that's not because somebody sent an email that sounded like 'Pikey'.
Is it just PC that's gone mad. Is it one particular police Inspector that is desperately trying to get her arrest figures up for the month - or is it something much more sinister? Is it about conditioning the minds of the English public, striking fear and intimidation into people? Or is it all mind-conditioning, getting the public ready for what's ahead. Perhaps we haven't seen anything yet.
I will leave it to you dear reader, to come to your own conclusion.
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