A gay man who moved his neighbour's bin said he received homophobic death threats in a menacing note stuck to a door hours later. Josh Val Martin says he moved the bin while searching for a Buddha statue which regularly goes missing outside his flat in Heaton Moor, Stockport.
The 30-year-old writer and tour guide returned the bin to 'roughly' the same position. Yet soon after, Josh noticed a menacing note on the communal front door of his apartment block, in which the neighbour vowed to 'put an end' to him.
The note said: "To Mr Gay, if you move my bin I will put an end to you. You may find an ex merenary (sic) ex Royal MM (sic) may call on you not to have a chat but to destroy."
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The incident last Sunday morning (June 4) is the latest episode in a series of 'curtain twitching' and passive-aggressive behaviour that both he and his partner have been subjected to since moving into the flat in leafy Heaton Moor. Josh says their treatment has 'tainted' their enjoyment of the property.
He said: “I was living in Clayton beforehand which was really working class and never had any complaints. We got on with neighbours and it was great.
"This is at the other end of the spectrum - I knew there would be lots of rules and regulations. I was expecting egg and spoon races at the park and pub quizzes but it’s lots of curtain twitching.
“I think we stand out and I think we’ve been watched - it makes you paranoid.” Josh says the issues began shortly after he moved into the flat with his partner and put some outdoor furniture in the communal area of their block.
This annoyed one neighbour who moved it without asking, he claimed. Josh later placed a £12 statue of Buddha outside the block but it quickly vanished without explanation.
When he confronted the neighbour - who he says is very particular about the position of the bins - he says he initially denied it was him, before admitting that he put the statue in the bin 'to stop local teenage kids smashing it'.
Josh retrieved it and placed it back outside his flat before finding that it had been damaged a few weeks later. This constant back and forth continued for weeks until the statue disappeared for good at the weekend, prompting Josh to move the communal bins outside the block in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to find it.
They were not returned exactly how they were, something with Josh believes led to a neighbour sending him the abusive letter. Josh added: “There were a few things beforehand and looking at this note I may speak to the landlady and say ‘I know the contract’s for 12 months but it feels to me like it’s not working out’.
“I don’t know how you move on to this. Can you have any kind of mediation when you get homophobic death threats?
"You can’t just say ‘sorry don’t worry about it’. I don’t want to speak to him and I don’t know what really can be said.
“People must have had dealings with him before but I just don’t know how he’s going to change - I just think that’s going to be who he is.” A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police confirmed that it 'is aware of this incident and following a number of lines of enquiry'.
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