Burnley post offices receive racist letters

Blackburn Police has launched an investigation after post offices in Burnley yesterday (24 June) received threatening letters with racist content.

Specialist officers have spoken to those affected. They, however, ruled out any direct threat to any individuals or the wider community.

“We are carrying out extensive enquiries to understand the full circumstances and although there is not currently believed to be any direct threat, as with any report of this nature, they are all being thoroughly investigated,” said DI Andy Horne from Blackburn Police.

“We understand that this may cause concern and we want to assure people that we are working closely with the post offices involved to ensure the safety of staff and customers,” he added.

The officer said the letters could be connected to similar incidents reported last year.

“We are looking at the possibility that the five letters reported to us yesterday are linked to a number of others that were received by post offices across the county in December last year. We are still investigating those incidents,” he said.

Horne urged the public to refrain from sharing the content of the letters on social media.

“We know that images of the letters are being shared and discussed on social media but we would ask that people refrain from doing this, as it may be giving the sender the attention they crave and a platform to spread their offensive messages,” he said.

Anyone with information about the letters can contact Lancashire Police by emailing to [email protected] or calling 101 quoting incident reference LC-20200624-0489. Alternatively, they can contact independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org.