A furious farmer has refused to take down a billboard slamming his village as the 'nastiest in Worcestershire' despite a £90 fine from police and insists that he would rather be arrested than remove it.
Carl Powell, 75, put the sign up on an old grain dryer and described his village of Peopleton, 10 miles from Worcester, as a 'murderous, lawless, godforsaken place'.
Mr Powell has accused villagers of putting 'their own self interest before anything' after a series of planning rows - but police say that it causes 'harassment, alarm or distress' to villagers.
He was already angry with the community of Peopleton after neighbours previously objected to his plans to build eight new affordable homes on his land.
And he then put up the sign 15ft up on one of his grain dryer after villagers refused to approve his plans to put a new track allowing better access to his 100 acre farm.
He was fined £90 for the sign in February after residents reported him to the police but he has refused to take it down and is willing to face further police action.
While Mr Powell is clear why he believes Peopleton is a 'lawless, godforsaken place', it is not yet clear why he has branded it 'murderous'. However in January it was revealed that that some cats in the village were left seriously ill or even died after someone left out rat poison for them to eat.
Welcome to Peopleton
Welcome to Peopleton
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Welcome to Peopleton
Well, that story took a dark turn at the end.
Re: Welcome to Peopleton
This reminds me of a movie I saw a few years back, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, where Frances McDormand rented billboards outside of town to attack the sheriff for lack of action in investigating the death of her daughter.