WE have had a great deal of confusing misinformation together with irresponsible and inflammatory newspaper headlines concerning the whole immigration issue.

I take the point that it isn’t always appropriate to cry ‘hate or race crime’ every time there is an unpleasant incident such as described by the lady who visited St Davids, as certain people are just plain unpleasant and will use any excuse.

However, there is a danger that associating such incidents with how ‘some’ people may feel about immigration can seem to validate this behaviour, as if it is somehow ‘understandable’ and therefore excusable.

There is a lot to be said for keeping things simple. We are all human beings and bad behaviour is bad behaviour.

No excuse.

J OXENHAM

Cosheston

I READ with considerable concern the letter from Ms E Dean, a JP, who attended her son’s wedding recently in St David’s. She reports a serious racist incident that was directed towards one of the black guests. In case any readers are in any doubt such behaviour is illegal. I trust that the Dyfed Powys Police are now investigating this report?

I also found one of your follow up letters from an Amroth resident a bit strange and struggled to work out whether he was condoning the incident or not.

I have had the closest of links with our lovely county for some 73 years. I have worked across England and I have taken with me that high degree of respect and tolerance that was imbued in us as young folk by the caring Pembroke Dock community.

In short I had been well schooled into understanding that we are all brothers and sisters whatever the colour of our skin, the nature of our language, the difference of our culture or our country of origin. I have never had any concept of the stranger in our midst and I will fight to preserve that core belief.

I know the Referendum stirred up some unhelpful fears and prejudices and Britain is now the worse for letting that particular genie out of the bottle. Please, people of Pembrokeshire, stand against racism wherever you see it or experience it and don’t be afraid to report it to the police. The vast majority of us are truly marvellous folk so let the differences bring us together.

CHRISTOPHER MORGAN

Pembroke Dock

I would very much like to thank Margaret Crennell for her letter of regret at the behaviour of a fellow Pembrokeshire resident’s appalling racist behaviour, it is much appreciated and I would sincerely hope this is an overwhelming majority view.

I was, however, astounded at the letter from Graham Muir of Amroth who almost began to imply a black person shouldn’t be on the street post-Brexit because of the mistrust around immigration. Would this apply to anywhere outside of the ‘metropolitan elite areas’ or just Pembrokeshire?

‘Hate crime’ is not a ‘mantra’ that is ‘thrown around’ – it is legislation implemented to prevent exactly the kind of random abuse our friend suffered purely for being black.

It was a crime of harassment and was aggravated by the victim being black – and he’s not an immigrant he was born here, educated here to degree level and employed here as a professional manager.

He was smartly dressed and going for a meal in The Bishops with his equally smartly dressed girlfriend.

If simply appearing on the street in St David’s is ‘adding fuel to the fire’ what does that say about the people who live there?

Writing to raise awareness of what is actually a crime is hardly adding fuel to any fire: the man who was abusive is extremely lucky that we didn’t report him to the Dyfed-Powys Police because we had a fair number of lawyers and magistrates in the party.

ELAINE DEAN JP (MRS)

Derby