Police have recorded a bizarre non-crime hate incident after a woman with an Italian surname complained about soiled underwear being hung on a neighbour's washing line following England's defeat to Italy in the Euro 2020 final.
The unusual case in North Wales saw the complainant report that "known offenders" had displayed large, dirty underpants for over two months, reports The Sun.
The woman believed the underwear display was targeted at her due to her Italian heritage and was connected to England's loss in the penalty shootout at Wembley.
According to North Wales police records, the complaint stated: "Known offenders have hung a very large, soiled pair of underpants on their washing line. They have been there for over two months."
The bizare complaint was made about a neighbour in North Wales (file pic)
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The Italian players celebrate victory as Bukayo Saka misses the decisive kick in the penalty shoot-out during the Italy v England Euro 2020 final match at Wembley Stadium
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Between January and June this year, around 13,000 NCHIs were recorded by police forces. Recent examples of other unusual NCHIs include a case where police recorded an incident after someone refused to shake hands following a gender row in Warwickshire.
In another case, a man complained about receiving an "aggressive" haircut after discussing Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine with his barber, who could speak Russian.
Other recorded incidents included a German woman being offended at being compared to a Rottweiler and a neighbour taking issue with being called "Leonard" during a hedge dispute, claiming it was homophobic.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has criticised police forces for investigating such incidents, saying their actions had undermined "confidence in policing...The police should not waste any valuable time on incidents like this," he said. "There is plenty of real crime they should be preventing and solving."
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp warned how 'this nonsense undermines confidence in policing'GETTY
Former Metropolitan Police detective Peter Bleksley also condemned the recording of such incidents, stating: "This is ridiculous and shows how disconnected police are from what the public want.
"No wonder there is a crime wave in this country.
"The guidelines suggest you should only intervene in cases like this where there is fear of escalation – who ever had a fear of escalation after a bad haircut?"