A YORK businessman has been sent an abusive, homophobic letter warning him to leave the village he lives in or be "run out".

Justin Heaven, 38, and his partner Robert, contacted police after receiving the disturbing letter at their new home in Hemingbrough.

The anonymous hand-written mail states "we do not like gays living here, we do not want a load of gays coming and going day and night", "we will have you run out of the village, this is a warning". 

Mr Heaven, who owns Fantasy World fancy dress shop in Clifton Moor, posted the letter on a Hemingbrough Facebook forum in the hope someone would recognise the distinctive handwriting.

Since then he has been inundated with hundreds of messages of support. 

Mr Heaven said: "It's appalling they won't put their name on it. I would rather someone knocked on the door and spoke to me rather than sending a letter in a cowardly way.

"I'm a fairly tough person so it was water off a duck's back but it was a little upsetting when our parents found out about it. My grandmother has been particularly worried. 

"Hemingbrough is a lovely village. We have been getting lots of support. People can't believe someone would think of doing this." 

The letter accuses the couple, who have been together for 14 years and plan to marry next year, of having parties and having "young lads" to stay. 

Mr Heaven said: "We have never had a party since we moved there. They are talking about relatives who stayed after a wedding. I find it disgraceful, it makes my skin crawl." 

Among the messages of support, one person from Hemingbrough wrote, "My family are shocked and disgusted by this letter and appalled that it has been written as if it were expressing the views of our village. Not in our names" and another said "I'm shocked that people like this still exist in society. Just awful."

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said: “The incident has been reported to us, and officers are due to meet the complainants. We take any report of hate crime extremely seriously, and would encourage anyone who could assist this investigation to contact North Yorkshire Police on 101.”