- Disabled pensioner who receives hate mail is baffled over who is sending it
- 72-year-old Kathleen Fortun says that she has been targeted for eight years
- Correspondent mocks her deafness and death of her cat
- Is adult bullying taken seriously? Take part in our poll below
A DISABLED grandmother who says her life has been torn apart for the past eight years by hate mail is appealing to her attacker to stop after the police halted their investigation.
Kathleen Fortun (72), who lost her hearing after contracting meningitis when she was nine, says the hurtful letters are making her depressed and she is now scared to leave her own home.
The typed letters, which are posted with a Jersey stamp, have arrived on the doorstep of her St Saviour home almost every Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day since 2008. They attack Mrs Fortun over her disability, mock her because she lives alone and claim it was ‘a good job’ that her cat, Brandy, was killed in an accident.
One of the more recent letters began: ‘Dear Deffo’ and went on to call her ‘a nasty piece of work’.
The pensioner, who has a distant relationship with her two grown-up sons who do not live in Jersey, said she initially thought the letters were ‘a childish prank’. But eight years on, the Islander says she now feels like a prisoner in her own home and turned to the police for the first time earlier this year in a bid for help.
Officers investigating the case carried out fingerprint tests on the envelope, but, after exhausting all lines of inquiry, the sender could not be traced and they have since called time on the investigation. Mrs Fortun has contacted members of her family to see if they know of anyone who might be targeting her.
Last Valentine’s Day she received a letter that included the rhyme: ‘Roses are red, violets are blue, when I see roses, I think no one loves you.’ She is now pleading for the sender to stop and has vowed to do whatever she can to find out who it is.
‘I do cry sometimes. I think, what have I done to deserve this? I am always looking over my shoulder,’ said Mrs Fortun, who moved to the Island when she was four years old.
‘I don’t often go out of my house now because of this. I go shopping and I volunteer at Durrell. I feel like I am a prisoner in my own home.
‘If you are sending these to me, please own up and tell me what I have done that makes you feel the need to send these to me,’ she added.
Mrs Fortun says she believes the letters are being sent by someone who knows her very well, as they include intimate details about her personal life.
She added that she had also sought help from Victim Support and the Citizens Advice Bureau.
The police confirmed that they had received one report of a malicious letter sent to Mrs Fortun earlier this year.
‘An investigation was conducted which included forensic analysis of the letter, but all lines of inquiry have now been exhausted,’ a spokesman said.
‘The victim has been updated throughout the investigation and has been told that if new evidence comes to light, it will be thoroughly looked at.’
Dear Deafo,
Have you got any idea how many people you p***** off over the yrs? Starting in St Brelades when you made as much nuisance as possible out of yourself and your poor boys. Do you know what a joke you are? No one has respect for you. Your an attention seeking nasty piece of work and yet when someone does the same to you you dont like it. Funny that. Its a good job that cat died because he had no kind of life with you. You want want want everything to try look respectable but I wouldnt bother because everyone knows what your like underneath. Working at Durell and pretend to everyone what a nice human being you are when realy your just plotting when your next going to stab someone in the back. No wonder you’re husband left you and both boys dont live in Jersey – they can’t stand you either! And as for the poor man you beat up when drunk the other year – what a lovely role model you are for your grandchildrens! What lovely upstanding member of the community you are! A real trooper.
You know what they say, what goes around comes around, carma and all that.
THERE has been a worrying rise in the number of Islanders reporting bullying in the workplace – and it could be just the tip of the iceberg, a charity warned last year.
The Jersey Community Relations Trust said that the number of people coming forward to report harassment in the workplace and community had soared in the last few years – particularly among the over-40s.
One counsellor with the service says that the increase in enquiries may just be the ‘tip of a much deeper problem’, as victims of bullying often find it difficult to ask for help.
The trust runs a free, confidential counselling service specialising in supporting Islanders who have experienced, witnessed or been affected by bullying or harassment. In the first three months of 2014, it received 115 enquiries from Islanders about its anti-bullying work – a 65 per cent increase compared to the same period the previous year.
There was an increase particularly in Islanders aged 40 to 49 and 50 to 59 contacting the service, rising 11 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.
The levels of people accessing the free and confidential service have been increasing steadily over the last two years.
Figures show that 311 people got in touch with the service in 2013 compared with 195 in 2012.
The trust says the rise can be partially attributed to better advertising thanks to a leaflet drop provided by Jersey Post, but not completely.
Alison Fox, workplace and community bullying and harassment counsellor at the charity, said: ‘Some of this rise may well be explained by the increased visibility that Jersey Post afforded us this year.
‘However, such a dramatic lift is an indication of just how many people are facing bullying in the workplace and in their lives generally.
‘Given how hard it can be to take that first step to making contact with our service it is not unreasonable to suggest that this is only the tip of a much deeper problem.’
The latest figures also revealed that 40 per cent of those who came forward reported issues within the workplace, while 20 per cent were community-based and 17 per cent in school.
Meanwhile, 73 per cent of enquiries made to the service were for individuals over the age of 40. The oldest person who contacted the service was 80, while the youngest was ten.
For more information speak to a counsellor confidentially on 07797 969997 or email anti- bullying@jerseycommunityrelations.org.
