Police record Enoch Powell shop window portrait as ‘non-crime hate incident'
The image of the late Conservative politician was placed in the window of Mumfords, an ironmonger in Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire, in February.
West Mercia Police have now recorded the image as an NCHI, saying it had been reported as 'offensive content'.
Shopkeeper Elizabeth Griffiths said the portrait was on display next to an extract from Mr Powell's 1968 'rivers of blood' speech, in which he claimed migration would lead to violence on Britain's streets.
'I did it to promote powerful leaders,' said the grandmother of 12. 'It wasn't just one picture of Enoch Powell. It had lots of other pictures around it. I think there were about six pictures of Winston Churchill, for instance.
'For some reason, three and a half months later, there is a decision to try and focus on just one picture. I think it's just an element of mischief making. My customers are overwhelmingly supportive of the display.'
Mrs Griffiths, a Reform UK activist, also placed images of Jesus Christ, Francis of Assisi and Donald Trump in her shop window.
But the display prompted a police investigation after a member of the public complained last week that it was offensive.
'On 16 May we received a report of offensive content displayed in a shop window on Church Street in Cleobury Mortimer,' said a spokesman for West Mercia Police. 'This is being treated as a hate incident, and onquiries are ongoing.'
The spokesman later clarified that it was being treated as an NCHI.
Mrs Griffiths said the report to police was a 'vendetta' because she had campaigned for Reform UK in the local elections earlier this month.
She added that she had received 'absolutely no police contact whatsoever' about the alleged 'hate incident' and had not been spoken to by officers about it.
'I am gobsmacked and baffled beyond belief,' she said. 'I am not racist in any shape or form. Oh, good gracious no. I deal with Muslims every week. The Muslims I deal with are generally entrepreneurial. They are successful in business. They haven't come across on boats.'
She added: 'I was a Brexit supporter. It isn't a case of reducing immigration. It's a case of controlling it, surely. I think it would be for the benefit of each and every one of us.
'In fact, when it was the Brexit campaign, I didn't campaign on anything other than uncontrolled immigration simply because of the strain on our resources, schools, health service.'
Mrs Griffiths has now placed a picture of Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, in her window after he used the phrase 'island of strangers' in an immigration speech last week, which she said was similar to what Mr Powell had predicted in 1968.
She added: 'I'm used to being bullied for standing up for what I believe in.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
a few seconds ago
- The Independent
Police officer caught stealing woman's underwear during property search
A police officer was captured rummaging through an arrested woman's drawer, picking a pair of her underwear out and then pocketing it. The footage, captured by the woman's CCTV on 12 September last year, shows Marcin Zielinski placing the pink underwear into his back pocket before leaving the room. The footage was released by the woman on Monday (18 August) after Zielinski was sentenced to four months in prison for corrupt/improper exercise of police powers and privileges. The police officers arrested the woman and took her to Hatfield police station for an allegation, but no further action was taken. Hertfordshire Constabulary Assistant Chief Constable Genna Telfer said: "Zielinski has let down the public of Hertfordshire, the police service as a whole and his former colleagues, who act with professionalism and integrity. 'His criminal behaviour damages the reputation of policing and represents a fundamental betrayal of the public and the values for which the police service stands.'
The Independent
a few seconds ago
- The Independent
Hundreds of supporters welcome Kneecap rapper Mo Chara as he arrives at court
Kneecap member Liam Og O hAnnaidh was greeted with hundreds of Kneecap supporters waving flags and holding banners as he arrived at court for allegedly supporting a proscribed terror organisation. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, is accused of displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at a gig in November last year. Demonstrations in support of the rapper were organised outside Westminster Magistrates' Court in London where he arrived on Wednesday, as well as in Dublin. The Metropolitan Police has imposed conditions limiting where the demonstration outside the court can take place, saying they are needed to 'prevent serious disruption'. O hAnnaidh was swamped by photographers as he arrived, with security officers taking more than a minute to usher him into the court building. Hundreds of supporters greeted the Kneecap rapper with cheers as he made his way from a silver people-carrier to the building. Fans held signs which read 'Free Mo Chara' while others waved Palestine and Irish flags before the rapper's arrival at court. Chants of 'free, free, Mo Chara' could also be heard over a megaphone, which was repeated by the crowd. In response to the Met imposing conditions on the protest, Kneecap described this move as a 'calculated political decision' that was 'designed to try and portray support for Kneecap as somehow troublesome', and 'asked supporters to go out of your way to be compliant with all instructions issued, irrespective of how pitiful'. O hAnnaidh received a rockstar welcome when he appeared at the same court in June, supported by fellow bandmates Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh. He was greeted by a festival-like atmosphere for his first court appearance, with dozens of fans waving flags, playing drums and one supporter setting off a smoke canister. The court previously heard the 27-year-old defendant is 'well within his rights' to voice his opinions on the Israel- Palestine conflict, but the alleged incident at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, north London, was a 'wholly different thing'. O hAnnaidh is yet to enter a plea to the charge.
The Independent
a few seconds ago
- The Independent
Warning Labour's rewilding plans could trigger surge in UK wildfires
Gamekeepers have warned that the government 's rewilding proposals could trigger an increase in wildfires across the UK. Labour has plans to ban winter burning from over half of England's peatland. The changes are claimed to help 're-wet' the country's peat bogs, as well as reduce the chances of wildfires and decrease carbon emissions. Environmentalists argue that peat bogs must be preserved as they soak up huge amounts of carbon, while landowners and gamekeepers say burning restrictions will, in fact, enable wildfires to break out that will be 'too large to fight'. Winter burning is a controlled traditional upland management technique whereby firebreaks in upland areas are established by creating strips of less flammable foliage. It is used to decrease the amount of fuel for possible wildfires and slow the speed at which blazes can spread. However, in conservation areas of 'deep peat', of a depth of 40cm or deeper, the burns were banned in 2021, covering 222,000 hectares of land. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is now looking into lowering the threshold for 'deep peat' to 30cm, which would extend the restrictions to 368,000 hectares. It says wetter peat will decrease the likelihood of wildfires, while gamekeepers argue the plans would leave Britain's moors and heaths more vulnerable. Andrew Gilruth, chief executive of the Moorland Association, told The Telegraph: 'This is our worst-ever year for wildfires. Britain is burning because of the religion of rewilding. 'It is obvious to everyone bar Natural England that, with climate change making vegetation tinder-dry, increasing this fuel load through rewilding is a really stupid idea. It makes for bigger, more intense blazes which can move at frightening speed.' 'I think the whole thing is very concerning – not just from a loss-of-habitat point of view, but also putting firefighters and land managers in real danger from the inevitable wildfires. 'The whole thing is becoming a massive tinderbox and a bomb that is going off. At the moment, re-wetting is increasing the fuel level on the moors and that is a real concern. Prescribed burning will not stop wildfires, but it reduces the length of flames and allows fires to be contained quicker.' More proposals include removing an exemption to current restrictions, which would allow burns to continue on 'inaccessible' land. Adrian Blackmore, the director of shooting at the Countryside Alliance, described Defra's plans as 'staggering'. He told The Telegraph: 'They are showing a staggering lack of understanding or knowledge. Burns reduce the fire load, encourage young growth for the birds to eat and encourage the growth of sphagnum moss, which is the peat-forming moss. 'So if you don't remove the canopy, you can't encourage sphagnum moss, because it's not going to grow underneath it. And sphagnum moss is the be-all and end-all, making moors wetter.' A Defra spokesperson told The Independent: 'Our peatlands are home to Britain's most precious wildlife, while also storing carbon and reducing flooding risk. With 13 per cent of the world's blanket bog in the UK, we've consulted on ways to ensure these rare habitats are better protected. We will set out our response in due course.' Heatwaves and consistent dry weather have seen the London Fire Brigade tackle more wildfires this summer than in the whole of 2024. A senior firefighter said that crews were experiencing a 'busy summer' and that they were working under 'very challenging conditions' to bring the blazes under control. Wildfires have even been raging in Scotland this summer, a place that rarely sees blazes break out. The Scottish Gamekeepers Association warned the fires were limiting the ability of 'stretched' firefighters to respond to other emergencies, so they were 'becoming a danger to human life'. Land managers can apply for licences to burn for the purpose of wildfire management, which are regulated and issued by Defra. The Defra spokesperson said repeated burning risks permanently altering the species composition and hydrology of peatland habitats. They added that peat that is wet is less likely to burn during a wildfire, builds new peat and loses less carbon through oxidation, protecting the stored carbon of old peat and ensuring that the habitat persists.
