An elderly woman accused of sending
hundreds of racist letters has told a court that she wanted to raise
issues she feels 'the establishment' are ignoring.
Margaret
Walker, 73, is alleged to have targeted Muslims, the Chinese, Jews and
the Scottish in abusive correspondence sent across the UK.
She claims the letters are necessary because police in Britain are 'not doing their job properly'.
Walker
is contesting an attempt by police to give her an anti-social behaviour
order, banning her from sending any more offensive letters.
Police
say that Walker told them she will continue to send the handwritten
'campaign leaflets' until she is ordered to stop by a court.
The pensioner began sending letters across the country in 2007, to hospitals, businesses and local politicians.
By
her own admission she has sent about 500 of her handwritten letters,
with many complaining about immigration and calling for Britain to pull
out of the EU.
The letters were reported to police, who were able to trace them back to Walker in 2009 through DNA and fingerprint evidence.
Walker was then arrested at her home in Fareham, near Portsmouth, Hampshire.
Julian
Knowles QC, prosecuting, told Fareham Magistrates' Court: 'The letters
Mrs Walker sent can be deemed as abusive, offensive, racist, obscene,
distressing and harassing.
'The
letters had a poisonous and corrosive effect on the recipients because
they naturally thought they came from someone they knew.'
Mr
Knowles added: 'Mrs Walker’s attitude expressed to the police that she
will continue to do this unless ordered to stop by the courts.
'She is on a crusade, for want of a better expression.'
Giving evidence, Walker denied the terms she used to describe different ethnic groups are offensive.
She said: 'I’m English and if you are English today with a voice, you are called racist.'
The party were mentioned in several of Mrs Walker’s letters but under cross-examination Rait admitted the party did not support her campaign.
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