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| Leeds United boss receives hate mail Leeds United manager David O'Leary has received anonymous letters threatening his wife with "serious harm", West Yorkshire Police have said. Detective Superintendent Eddie Hemsley said the seven letters made certain "demands" of Mr O'Leary and threatened "serious harm" to his wife Joy if these were not carried out. Mr O'Leary and his family are receiving police protection following the violent threats. Mr Hemsley would not go into detail about what the demands were, but added: "It was a demand in relation to the club and if it was not done then serious harm would come to his wife." The author of the letters "has had opportunities to carry out the threats", Mr Hemsley said. The first letter, posted on 14 February last year, arrived at Leeds United's Elland Road ground shortly after the first trial of players Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate began. An attack on student Sarfraz Najeib, 21, in Leeds city centre in January 2001 led to two criminal trials involving the players. Mr Bowyer was cleared of causing grievous bodily harm and affray by a jury at Hull Crown Court in December. Woodgate was also cleared of causing grievous bodily harm, but was convicted of affray and was sentenced to 100 hours community service. Police revealed that the last letter sent to Mr O'Leary was posted on 18 December and arrived a few days after the second trial ended.There is every likelihood that the author would have expressed his opinion about the trial to friends or work colleagues," Mr Hemsley said. The letters were typed using a word processor and printed by a laser printer. A forensic handwriting expert has confirmed the same person addressed all the envelopes without disguising their handwriting. Mr Hemsley said the first four envelopes had been made by Chisholme, a company that only supplied commercial outlets and had not traded for the past eight years. "The person we are looking at is likely to be acting on his own, misguidedly believing he is the champion of a cause. "This is nonsense. "We believe he has an obsessive personality which has caused a great deal of distress." 'Mr Hemsley added the author of the letters was "almost certainly male". He could live anywhere in the country, but was more likely to live or work in the areas where the letters were posted - Doncaster, Lincoln or Nottingham." Mr O'Leary, 43, who has two teenage children, said in a statement the family "totally support the efforts of the West Yorkshire Police in tracing the sender of this hate mail". "We hope anyone with information will pass it on to the police immediately," he said. The statement added the family would not be making any further comment on the matter. 24th January 2002 |
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