https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/watch-royal-mail-postman-incident-33028743

Police are treating an incident in East Belfast involving a Royal Mail postman as a homophobic hate crime.

Ring doorbell footage from the property in Rosebury Gardens appears to show the postman approaching the house to make a delivery before checking that no one was watching and kicking over a rainbow garden gnome and a planter containing a Pride flag.

Speaking to Belfast Live, one of the occupants of the house, who does not wish to be named, explained that she and her fiancée had returned home to the damage and were "astounded" when they discovered it was their postman after reviewing the footage.

“We were absolutely stunned when we checked the Ring footage. You never expect to see your own postman looking around to make sure the coast is clear and then deliberately kicking over your property," she said.

“It wasn’t just a gnome and a planter. It felt like a targeted message, and that’s what has really shaken us.

“There’s no doubt in our minds that this was a homophobic act. These items weren’t in his way. He sought them out and kicked them over on purpose.”

The occupant said that they reported the incident to Royal Mail on Sunday and were told that someone would call them back, but to date, no one has been in touch.

“We reported the incident to Royal Mail straight away and were told someone would be in touch, but we’ve heard nothing since. It’s added to the stress of the whole situation.

"At the very least, we expected a call back, some reassurance, or even an acknowledgement that what happened was unacceptable.

"We are not trying to cause trouble for the sake of it, but we don't want anyone else to go through something like this."

Inspector Adams said: “We received a report at around 11.15am on Sunday, 7th December of a plant pot containing a Pride flag and a garden gnome statue with a rainbow being knocked over at a property in the Rosebery Gardens area.

“It was reported that a man observed at the house at around 3.35pm on Saturday, 6th December, looked at the plant pot before deliberately kicking it over.

“This incident is being treated as a homophobic hate crime and our enquiries are ongoing.

“We would appeal to anyone who was in the area at the time, or who may have any information which could assist with our enquiries – including CCTV or other footage – to contact us on 101, quoting reference number 587 of 07/12/25.

“You can also submit a report or information online using the non-emergency reporting form via www.psni.police.uk/makeareport, or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at www.crimestoppers-uk.org/. ”

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We have viewed the footage and referred it to local management for investigation. We take this seriously and are looking into what happened as a priority."

In a further update, they added: "The individual was an agency worker, and their contract assignment has been terminated with immediate effect."





by binesandlines

43 comments

  2. Whilst this clearly is a cunt being a cunt, he kicked a plant pot over. Is it really a crime?

  5. Such a fucking petty, cowardly, shitty thing to do. Deserved to get the boot.

  6. Totally unnecessary, just a real shit house thing to do. Like, why even bother, post the mail and move the fuck on. Then again, not much surprises me anymore.

  8. Did he really think that he was going to get away with it, especially with the Ring doorbell recording him?

  9. We trust these people with the most basic form of distance communication, absolutely they should be trustworthy. With access to our property, nope this little biggot has earned his P45.

  12. He’s just mad because he has to do those D2Ds.
    Twat.lmao

  13. He definitely struck a blow into the very heart of the nefarious Gay Agenda with this half hearted, Tommy Wiseau-esque knocking over of an ornament! 

  14. I’ve always thought these people are closet cases and in the pit of self loathing. Just come out my guy, you will have a happy life full of Willie’s and you won’t be a bitter little shit stain anymore.

  15. They should be charged with criminal stupidity as well as the criminal damage with homophobic aggravation. How you don’t realise a Ring camera is filming you…

  16. im not even offended by the bigotry. i’m offended by the audacity and the entitlement. to think you can damage someone’s private property because you got your wee feewings hurt is yucky. i’d pettily press charges too just to teach him a lesson

  17. The absolute pettiness of it is what gets me. Good on Royal Mail for acting quickly and firing him.

  18. you’d know if it was an accident because people tend to pick things up when they’ve done it by mistake. If you accidentally broke the gnome you’d leave the owner a note to say sorry

  20. I’m astounded and impressed this was investigated and action was taken given how protective and territorial some fields are.

  21. honestly from my experiences with royal mail in this country don’t find it surprising that they’re hiring questionable people

  22. Stupid af. Even if you have your opinions, to kick something over with a clear ring camera watching you, while working. Brain cells clearly fighting one another!

  23. Lol what a tit, gonna get fired and all you did was tip over a little plant pot, haven’t even got the balls to be open about your shitheadedness

  24. Imagine being so upset by a rainbow planter. Homophobes are such snowflakes.

  26. Some of the comments on Facebook say it is harsh he lost his job.

    What other job would allow you to openly damage property while wearing the company uniform?

  29. Honestly, seeing a postman vandalise a Pride flag is, sadly, not surprising. It is an act of petty spite that tells a much bigger, more troubling story about the air we are breathing right now.

    If you step back and look at the wider socio-political landscape and you absolutely should – the root of this kind of behaviour is obvious. Platforms like X aka X-crement are no longer just forums – they are engines. They constantly push and buoy material designed to villify, or simply divide, people. There is a clear, orchestrated push to define an ‘us’ the perpetually aggrieved, who fit some fleeting, idealised archetype of American Alt-Right normalcy and ‘them,’ the perpetual ‘other.’

    This constant exposure this digital drip-drip-drip of corrosive material is doing exactly what it is designed to do. It is deranging, it is fraying, and it is systematically dismantling the social contract of basic common decency and respect we once took for granted. People are simply being poisoned by the noise.

    It is particularly galling when you consider what happened with the EU. They attempted to bring this platform into some semblance of control, to limit the very corrosive material we are talking about. And yet, because the platform’s owner is apparently on such good terms with the leader of a certain major country, the full weight of the White House was immediately deployed against the attempt. The political pressure was immense.

    The difficult balance is real though.
    Defining a clear, fair distinction between free speech – the protected right of rebuttal and inflammatory hate speech designed to feed prejudice and foment tangible harms in the offline, real world, is genuinely complex.

    But here is the absolute truth – a blood diamond trust fund origin billionaire with a history of issuing slanders, falsehoods, and childish tantrums does not seem like the right person to be defining those distinctions for society.

    A man who behaves less like a responsible public figure and more like the antagonist in that classic Twilight Zone episode, “[It is a Good Life](https://youtu.be/QxTMbIxEj-E?)” where everyone must cater to the whims of a powerful, capricious child is a deeply worrying custodian for global free speech.

    It really does feel like we are in scary times.

  30. the caring aspect of a lot of jobs has disappeared .

  32. How long before a kickstarter is spread around Facebook for him?

  34. Imagine loosing your job over something so stupid. All he had to do was put the post in the letter box & walk away, but no, seen a small flag & had to be a dickhead 🙄🙄

  35. Imagine losing your job because a plant pot upset you.

  36. I live in that area – was hoping it wasn’t our usual postman who is a lovely man I would have been very disappointed.

    I know it might seem small to some people but the postman is one person you have on your property that you want to be able to trust. Can’t be at that.

  37. fierce amount of daft scrotes on defending him on fb too. “Bit rough to be losing your job, so close to christmas”.

    Completely, blissfully overlooking the fact that he kicked it of his own free will. It didn’t attack him. It didn’t launch out of the door like a feral dog. He could have NOT kicked it, and gone about his day and his employer would have been all “yep, thats pretty much standard practice for our employees carry on”.

  38. Hope he gets fired.

    Edit: he was. Good. Wouldn’t want him anywhere near my house.

  43. Must be hate filled and enraged to even have the notion to do that. Sad weirdo!

    A delivery guy came to my door (in County Down, Ni!) with a MAGA hat on. I made a remark about it like “nice hat” and suddenly he’s defending Trump.

    There are some weird people and I don’t like them knowing exactly where I live.

Comments are closed.