A school headteacher has spoken out about the torrent of abuse one his staff received after being falsely accused of racism by a local election candidate.
Ring doorbell footage shared online by independent Akhmed Yakoob, who came third in the West Midlands mayoral race picking up 20% of the vote, was "manipulated" to suggest the woman had used a slur against Pakistani people.
In Mr Yakoob’s version of the video, he urges people to 'make their own minds up' about what was being said, while pointing them to footage overlain with the purported racist words and hashtags alleging Labour were racist. It included two uses of a vile racist term and a swear word - none of which were actually said.
But the footage went viral after Mr Yakoob circulated it to his 194,000-strong Tiktok following and on Instagram and Twitter. The video stayed online for several days after police said there was “no evidence” of racism - but had been removed from Mr Yakoob’s social platforms last night.
Now Richard May, head of Stuart Bathurst Catholic High School, where the woman works, says the school received more than 800 emails, telephone calls and social media messages including "death threats, appalling language, threats of violence and an expectation that I should sack [the teacher] immediately."
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In a letter to parents and students, Mr May said: "The last few days have been the worst experience of my 24-year career, so if I feel like that, I can't even imagine how my colleague is feeling at present." He said the teacher had "had her life turned upside down. She hasn't been able to leave her house. She has been hounded by people pretending to be journalists and has been bombarded with messages of hate - all because she decided she would like to help a friend and colleague with their political campaign for a couple of hours."
West Midlands police said they had examined the footage closely, and added: “We have found no evidence of any racist slurs or language used.”
It’s understood Labour handed the footage to an external digital forensics firm, whose analysis led them to conclude it had been manipulated. A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Manipulated digital assets pose a threat to the community cohesion we work hard to foster, as well as to the integrity of the democratic process. It is disappointing and irresponsible for an unsuccessful candidate in a recent election to share a manipulated digital asset in an attempt to undermine a successful Labour campaign.”
Following the police and Labour Party’s statements, Mr Yakoob said: “In light of the Labour Party claims that the footage maybe suspect, we encourage the party to share their findings with us. We take this very seriously and are investigating this ourselves."
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