Anonymous letter in the post today- thoughts?

[Janeandjohnny]

So today I get a card envelope which had been opened by local mail handling/ in error/ damaged. It was then re packed in a post plastic bag with an apology for damage and I got it.

My address had a quirk on it which is local, (my business is at my home address and that has the 'proper' address that I mostly use) so this letter I think is from someone local due to use of road name.

Inside was a sheet of paper with

FAGGOTT - time to leave the (drawing of a closet).

Kind of disturbing, odd and out of the blue.
Im happily married for 21 years and aged 48 if this makes any difference?
Should I ignore, throw away, tell police etc etc. Any thoughts?

You mention dealing with a lot of women through work. Perhaps it's a jealous husband. He may be connected to the business and also local, hence the local address. If his wife has mentioned you, and he's the obsessive jealous type, he may lash out at you via this letter.

@picklemewalnuts

You mention dealing with a lot of women through work. Perhaps it's a jealous husband. He may be connected to the business and also local, hence the local address. If his wife has mentioned you, and he's the obsessive jealous type, he may lash out at you via this letter.

This was my first thought

crimes must always be reported so police have Accurate idea of what’s going on even if chance of catching this person is unlikely - especially hate crime

Ring doorbell in case nutter comes to your home

I would put a rainbow on your business website or link to gay charity to show you openly support LGBTQ’s

I was going to suggest what a pp said about it possibly being the partner of one of your clients, who doesn't like you spending time with them.

Is your business one where you get close to clients? My first thought was personal trainer

I'd say definitely someone from the past or who has found out about your past 100%. That's the only thing that makes sense very weird. X

I reckon it’s a joke.

My brother (in his thirties) has a ten year long running joke with a friend from uni where there send a letter to each other once a year or thereabouts with a completely random picture of a landmark in the UK, that the other has to identify, travel to and then send a pic back with them in front of the landmark.

If ever post waylaid you would be baffled. Now they’re older, it’s become a lot tamer than when they were in their twenties and for example… one “landmark” was a tiny little brothel in a backstreet of London

The sender of something like this is pretty cowardly. Says more about the sender than it ever could about you.
You've already given this more of your time and emotional energy than it deserves.
Personally I would keep it, just in case more are sent. Make a note of when it came, put it away and try not to let it get to you.

Perhaps they got the wrong house number/name? Could it be meant for a neighbour?

Spoke to my husband who works as a postie for RM to find out about damaged mail etc.

The sorting machines can damage mail. Sometimes it looks like a person has opened the item but in fact it's the machine. If the item had gone through the machine prior to the franking stage it might have got jammed. Normal procedure is to retrieve the item, put it in a "damaged item" bag, and sign it. If you did or didn't get a frank, depends on where the item got damaged. DH says his medium sized delivery office gets around 10 damaged letters/cards a day, on average.

Tampering with post by employees carries a prison sentence if proved in a criminal court.

If the item wasn't stamped, you would have been liable for postage plus a fee on top.

Regardless of where the item is posted, all mail goes to the local hub, sorted, and sent to delivery offices. If your abuser lives locally, and knows your address quirk, then he or she could be local, even if your hub is a long way away.

Personally I wouldn't report to the police straight away. Keep the item and make a note of when it arrived. If more come, then report. Royal Mail can also flag your address as being used to sent malucious communications, so posties can keep an eye out for anything suspicious.

Sounds like you have a strong hunch who it is. Is it someone that worries you?
Id tell the police and also your suspicions as to who it is that possibly has motive and why.
They wont do much but i think it needs to be recorded in case it isnt a one off

I'd report it. It's a hate crime and other people locally might have been on the receiving end of similar shite.

Ask your wife if she’s told anyone about your previous experiences.

Could be one of her friends unwittingly told a homophobic partner or something.

@Whatayear81

I reckon it’s a joke.

My brother (in his thirties) has a ten year long running joke with a friend from uni where there send a letter to each other once a year or thereabouts with a completely random picture of a landmark in the UK, that the other has to identify, travel to and then send a pic back with them in front of the landmark.

If ever post waylaid you would be baffled. Now they’re older, it’s become a lot tamer than when they were in their twenties and for example… one “landmark” was a tiny little brothel in a backstreet of London

It's nothing like that.

Hope you've reported it, police will investigate tweets such as this - a letter is no different. Could be someone wishing you harm

@LakieLady

I'd report it. It's a hate crime and other people locally might have been on the receiving end of similar shite.

This.

I think you may be overthinking this.

It may just be someone who dislikes you trying to be unkind - someone homophobic who has no idea you’ve had previous sexual experiences with men, but threw a random slur that happens to chime a bit with past experiences.

If I were you, I’d report to police and think no more about it. It’s horrible.

Very unpleasant and I'm sorry that's happened.
It would unnerve me, but I wouldn't personally go to the police - however there's little I'd go to the police for as I don't trust them.
I would keep it in a bag, and note the date received . Then I would try to move on.

If you don't think it has any basis I would ignore and try to forget.

We had a weird letter about 7 years ago through the post about a tree we had cut down. We worked out who it was from in the end and it's an unhinged woman who lives 200m from us. It upset me for about a year. I avoid her in our village like the plague now...

Do you have a fairly common name? Maybe it’s a case of mistaken identity.

As you run a business, maybe your name is out in the public domain. Someone was targeting the letter at another Mr Johnny, and because your name was visible on social media etc due to the business, sent the letter to you. My husband had a case of mistaken identity once through running his own business, and received a very abusive phone call from a girl accusing him of all sorts.

I would definitely keep the letter and record when it arrived, in case anything else happens.

I don’t think it’s linked to your past sexual encounters, as that was 25 years ago.

Just to edit my previous comment. When I say you may be overthinking it, I just mean you may be presuming that this is targeted at you personally because the sender knows about your past experiences. It may just be coincidence.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t be upset. It is horrible.

It's odd that this particular letter had been "opened in error" or damaged by the postal service. Does that happen often where you live? It has literally never happened to me. I wonder why this letter in particular? If the writing on the envelope doesn't match the writing on the note inside I'd suspect the post delivery person of some sort of shenanigans.

I would have thought that as the envelope was damaged it originally contained a card from a local person, damaged at the sorting centre and a couple of overworked young royal mail xmas temps thought it was the best joke of the night shift to swap for a hastily scrawled note. Register it with police and put to the back of your mind as a prank for now :)

Cowards do things anonymously so I would suggest you write down the details and keep the letter tucked away somewhere in case of any further events.

Then, I would just get on with my life and simply forget it.

mathanxiety
It's odd that it has no frank mark and was opened at the mail centre. It's also odd that the letter inside is in red marker in a hand that differs from that on the envelope.

Is it possible there is some prankster (perhaps homophobic, perhaps not) at the mail center who opened an unfranked letter meant for you with genuine correspondence inside, removed the genuine letter, and inserted a prank letter in red marker instead?”

I wouldn’t put it past them. My neighbour is a postman and, without going into specifics, has completely shattered the ‘friendly, local postman’ image for me.

There are some fab posties out there but our local RM are staff seem to be dominated by immature, miserable career postmen with repressed, outdated thinking who seem to think they can use their position as local postman means they’re actually the town mayor 🙄

I’m sorry.
I’ve had something similar and it escalated.

Either report or at least keep it.
I do wonder if anything else was in the envelope though? Although it may have been opened because someone thought there was cash in it. I’ve had this happen with birthday cards before.