Sunday, November 20, 2005

Poison Pen Letter

A poison pen letter writer who has sent hate mail to publicans in the Portreath area for up to 20 years was yesterday at the centre of a police investigation.

Officers were trying to piece together the identity of the mystery writer who apparently holds a grudge against groups including gay people and single mothers.

This week Clem Tregear, landlord of the Waterfront Inn at Portreath, told how he had been bombarded with letters from the same author for about a decade.

They arrived regularly while he was running the nearby Bridge Inn for six years from the mid-1990s and continued during his four-year spell at the Rambling Miner at Chacewater.

"I've got boxes of letters and now we are getting about one a week here," said Mr Tregear. "The writer appears not to like single mothers, gay people or anybody who doesn't conform to the behaviour they expect.

"We had one letter at the Bridge Inn which upset us because it inferred that a barmaid was a 'woman of the night'. That was a scurrilous suggestion."

Phil Fox, who took over the Bridge Inn with his wife, Von, last year, said the recent batch of letters sent to Mr Tregear featured slurs against their staff and customers.

He pointed to one attacking the alleged sexuality of a former bar manager.

The West Briton understands that a local mother was also urged to move away from the community with her child in a recent, abusive letter.

Mr Fox, who believes that two people could be behind the latest spate of poison pen letters, said: "Following the remarks about our bar manager, he left us.

"I've been told that this has been going on for 20 years and I believe that whoever is doing it holds a grudge against humanity as a whole. They've picked on people who use the pub and those who don't.

"It's just got silly now," he added. "We don't know who's doing it so everybody's under suspicion. We just want it to stop."

PC Tim Roberts, of Redruth police, confirmed that he had seized several letters as part of his inquiries to identify the culprit.

He said: "I believe the author may think they are not causing any harm but the content of the letters refers to many local people who are very upset by what is being written.

"I would appeal for any information which may lead to the identity of the author and would ask the letter writer to contact me at Redruth police station."