Lord Alan Sugar received anti-Semitic letters; man found guilty

A man who sent anti-Semitic letters to Lord Alan Sugar has been found guilty of religiously-aggravated harassment, putting those in fear of violence.

The businessman, known for founding Amstrad and heading up TV’s The Apprentice, received abusive, threatening and offensive letters that we “deeply derogatory” towards the Jewish faith, Essex Police said.

A man sent abusive, threatening and offensive letters to Lord Alan Sugar that were “deeply derogatory” towards the Jewish faith, Essex Police has said.

Patrick Gomes, 70, sent three letters to Lord Sugar’s business premises in Loughton, Essex, in 2018.

It said Gomes was arrested in March 2019 at his home after his DNA and fingerprints were found on one of the letters, each of which was addressed directly to Lord Sugar.

Officers found additional letters written by Gomes, all of which were discriminatory in nature, and the address that the other letters had been sent to in his address book.

Lord Sugar said he had been reluctant to refer the matter to “already stretched” police but thanked officers for “helping to shine a light on the fact that this type of behaviour is simply not acceptable”.

PC Marc Arnold, the investigating officer, said: “Nobody should ever be subjected to this level of abuse or fear physical violence because of their faith.

“I’m really pleased that justice has been rightly served.

“There is simply no excuse for any hate crime and if this happens to you or you witness this type of behaviour, please tell us – we will not tolerate racism or discrimination of any kind and neither should you.”