Banbury Muslim is mystified over why police 'ignored complaint' about intimidation

Rocky Wood reported the incident to Thames Valley Police but received no reply other than acknowledgement and an incident number.

He finally complained to the Independent Police Standards Office (IPSO) which has passed his complaint to the Metropolitan Police for investigation.

Mr Wood reported that a group of youths, some wearing full-face balaclavas, harassed and intimidated him as he walked to the Park Road, Banbury mosque on August 21.

"I had arrived a little late for maghrib prayers, about 8.20pm,” he said. “Shortly after getting out of my friend’s car on the corner of Boxhedge Road, walking towards the mosque and I saw a large group of teenagers. Some were on bicycles and wearing black full-fact balaclavas about 30m away from me.

"On spotting me, one of the masked ones rode quickly at me and circled close around me, staring directly at me the whole time.

"A few second later the rest of his friends walked past me – all with faces clearly visible - with him bringing up the rear telling me he would ‘see me again later’.”

The incident happened two weeks after the riots and Mr Wood said he had seen Banbury MP Sean Woodcock’s assurance to Muslim communities that the Government was making rapid emergency services available for mosques.

"The next day I made sure that it had all been caught on CCTV and then reported it as a religious hate crime to the police,” said Mr Wood.

“Since then neither I nor anyone at the mosque has had any contact nor seen any move made to investigate it by the police, despite promises made by the government that anything like this would be promptly dealt with.

“The entire incident was caught on CCTV. What happened was pretty clear and left me feeling very shaken and terrified, though I am thankful that it did not happen to a woman or child coming to pray.

"To make this situation even worse the police have done nothing about it despite me reporting it on August 23 and then making a formal complaint asking the police to please explain why they had done nothing to investigate this on Monday August 26. Still nothing.

“The CCTV also caught the youths prowling around the mosque a few times before they saw me arriving alone and maybe they thought it would be a good idea to scare me,” he said.

Mr Wood said the elders at his mosque had supported him and were happy to speak to the police about his report.

"They are also mystified why the police have not yet done anything to investigate it,” he said. "I would have liked the police to do something other than stock emails recording my complaint and giving me a reference number. I was not expecting to be completely ignored at a time when we Muslims were assured that anything like this would be promptly investigated.”

Thames Valley Police said the Banbury Guardian would need to ask IPSO for a comment as the complaint has been taken on by that office. IPSO says it usually takes three weeks to complete complaint investigations.