Letters

Letter to West Yorkshire Police about children having ‘non-crime hate incidents’ being recorded against their names at Kettlethorpe High School in Wakefield

Summary

We’ve written to Inspector Andy Thornton, the police officer leading the investigation into the events at Kettlethorpe High School involving a 14 year-old autistic boy bringing a copy of the Quran into the school. We have complained about the fact that the episode is being treated as a ‘hate incident’ by West Yorkshire Police. We’ve asked Thornton to assure us that the four boys at the centre of the story have not had ‘non-crime hate incidents’ recorded against their names and, if they have, to remove them immediately. As the school said, there’s no evidence of any malicious intent and damaging a book that belongs to you, even if it is the Quran, should not be treated as a ‘hate incident’.