'Racist' leaflet links Chinese to cannabis factory bust

A resident is refusing to deliver what she claims are "racist" Neighbourhood Watch leaflets.

Marzia Nicodemi-Ehikioya, of south London, says her local association's February newsletter could make people think of Chinese people as "evil outsiders".

The newsletter she was asked to distribute to her 25 neighbours in Spring Park, Shirley, applauds the discovery of a cannabis factory in Lake Road, adding: "The house has been rented to Chinese people".

Ms Nicodemi-Ehikioya says this concluding sentence adds nothing to the news item and only serves to stigmatise an ethnic minority.

But Carolyn Seymour, of Spring Park Neighbourhood Watch, said: "It is not racist, it is fact. Everything I wrote in that letter came straight from the police and has since been approved by them. The simple intention was to inform our members how a neighbourhood watch co-ordinator discovered a major cannabis factory. It is also a fact that Chinese people were living there - but they vacated the premises in a rush."

Sgt Rob Smith of the Shirley Safer Neighbourhoods Team said the cannabis factory was discovered on 27 December after "a passer-by had seen the front door open and feared a break-in". But he added: "When I spoke to Carolyn I made no mention of who may have been involved."

Ms Nicodemi-Ehikioya, who is Italian, has written to Croydon Central MP Andrew Pelling demanding "official action". She has been a Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator for five years.