5:40pm Thursday 23rd July 2009
AN innocent man and his mother have been hounded by phone calls after dozens of posters were put up around Hockley accusing him of being a paedophile.
The malicious A4 size posters were put up on telegraph poles in Greensward Lane, Plumberow Avenue and Broad Parade in full view of passing cars, pedestrians and residents.
The posters showed his picture, full address and home telephone number and described him as a paedophile.
The man’s distressed mother, who did not wish to be named for fear of escalating the problem, told the Echo: “It’s a totally unfounded lie and very distressing.
“We have had calls all morning and people driving by staring in. It’s a vindictive act, I don’t know what they were hoping to gain other than cause us distress.”
The posters are believed to have been put up in the early hours of yesterday morning.
Essex Police have confirmed they are not investigating the man for any sexual offence.
They confirmed officers are now investigating who compiled and put the defamatory notices up.
Spokesman Bill Stock said: “We were called to Plumberow Avenue this morning after reports of a number of posters claiming that a man was a sex offender had been found in the area.
“Officers are removing the posters and are looking to see if there are any more.
“Police in Rochford are investigating the source of these posters.”
Rochford councillor Keith Hudson said he could not comment on this specific incident. However, he said putting up defamatory posters was never the way forward.
He said: “We should not be a vigilante society. We should leave it to the police and the courts to deal with these matters and keep us and our children safe.
“If we start going down the route of a vigilante society then errors could be made and that could wreck more lives than it helps.”
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