A CONTROVERSIAL sign warning trespassers they will be shot is ‘not a criminal matter’ after villagers complained about the threatening message.
The sign at Stone Arrow Farm in Peopleton, which is at the centre of a probe into illegal waste, caused concern among villagers – but police say there is nothing they can do because it is on private land.
One sign, making a return at the farm entrance, reads: “No trespassing. Violators will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.”
A spokesperson for West Mercia Police said: “Police received a report in relation to a sign displayed in the village of Peopleton.
“Officers have attended and spoken with individuals involved. It has been established that the sign is on private property, and it is not a criminal matter.”
APPLICATION: The vehicles at Stone Arrow Farm in Peopleton where a planning application for a lorry park was turned down (Image: James Connell/Newsquest)
The force also confirmed the investigation into illegal waste activity at the farm remains ongoing following a warrant there on January 8 as part of a broader investigation.
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During the police raid, documents and £100,000 in cash were seized by West Mercia Police at Stone Arrow Farm, leaving farmer Mr Powell ‘traumatised’.
Mr Powell, owner of Stone Arrow Farm, has put two controversial signs back up at the entrance to the farm, one warning trespassers that they will be shot (and shot again if they survive) and another calling the village ‘murderous’.
The 80-year-old, who admits villagers call him ‘the most hated man in Peopleton’, said the sign was obviously a ‘send up’ and suggested villagers who had complained needed to ‘get out more’.
Planners rejected Mr Powell’s retrospective planning application for a lorry park and to extend the class B8 open storage yard which he called a betrayal.
However, Mr Powell believes there would be ‘no point’ in appealing as villagers say they hope for a return to normality following the decision by planners at Wychavon District Council.
A further sign reads: “Welcome to Peopleton, a murderous, godless place, probably, most definitely the nastiest village in Worcestershire.”
But Mr Powell was unapologetic about putting the signs back up. He said of the ‘nasty village sign’: “This is a true statement and I won my court case against the police on the grounds of. If telling the truth is now a crime, find me guilty.”
We approached residents from the Peopleton Residents Action Group but they did not wish to comment.
