Death threats to TV farmer after vegan café milk row

The North Wales hill farmer, who is a well-known for his television appearances and has a large social media following, received death threats after he shared a post questioning a vegan café’s use of plant-based alternatives to local cow’s milk.

One, of a series of private messages sent from a single account, threatened to “take out” the farmer’s “whole bloodline”. Mr Jones said he had been helped by contacts in the United States to trace the account of the sender of the most vicious messages to Florida.

The messages have also been reported by Mr Jones, who farms above Llanfairfechan in Gwynedd, to local police: “Everything has been forwarded to North Wales Police. They are going to look into it and they’ve said they will do what they can.”

A row over social media had started when Jones shared two photographs of the menu board with his 72,000 Facebook followers, and 37,000 Twitter fans, writing: “Is this Caffi just using plant based fluids and not using natural local milk? Am I wrong? Can anyone help?”

The heated online argument over the merits of plant-based foods and dairy production followed, while some users accused the popular farming figure of unfair criticism of Caffi Clywedog, the vegan cafe in question which overlooks the Clywedog Dam, near Llanidloes.

He has said he had simply posed a question and didn’t believe it to be provocative, as some social media users had alleged.

Things turned sour when Jones found sickening messages sent directly to him, threatening violence towards him and his family, while the cafe also said it had received threats of “violence and arson”.

One message sent to Jones threatened: “I’ll take out your whole bloodline if that means there won’t be inercent (sic) animals dying you rape and kill there (sic) family”.

Jones hopes that, helped by the detective efforts of online supporters, the matter can be taken forward by US police authorities.

“Thanks to people far more clever than me, we know which county he is in, and hopefully the police over there can go and knock on his door,” Jones told The National.

“It is a massive offence, over there, in Florida it could be a custodial sentence or a massive fine. We might find out he’s a young boy sat in some bedsit.

“I want him brought to justice. Let’s not let these people get away with it.”

Jones said he’d been particularly angered by the series of direct messages, as they had upset his family deeply.

“It’s a death threat, and my wife has seen this, and it’s really upset her. Someone has to draw a line in the sand with these people.

“I don’t really care what someone says about me, I’m quite thick skinned, but to say you will take my blood-line out, to send that message – and you think, what if somebody is mentally ill? Could they come and shoot or kill you?”

Jones has sent a message to the account warning he did not wish to engage in further conversation, and he would view continued messages as harassment.

“Other people were involved and it’s not nice to have other people say you deserved it. It’s okay to have different opinions but to think you have the right to issue death threats, that’s pretty sad in my opinion.

“It would be really nice to end this with a positive, and for them to be brought to justice for what they’ve done.

“A lot of this goes on, a lot of trolls making death threats and it could see people taking their own lives.”

Caffi Clywedog previously posted on its website stating it had received “a torrent of negativity which included online threats for offering a plant-based menu” and added: “It is our choice to provide fresh, plant-based refreshments to those who want them, without forcing our personal ethics onto people, we trust our potential customers are intelligent, and capable of making their own decisions.”

The cafe’s manager said its owners now wished to draw a line under the episode, and that it wouldn’t be making any further comment.

The cafe’s statement appealed for people to be kind to each other.