Vicar targeted over asylum centre

The proposed sites have been opposed by residents

A female vicar who called for compassion to be shown to asylum seekers has become the target of a hate-mail campaign.

And a brick has been thrown through the window of the St Mary the Virgin church, following Reverend Mary Carney's sympathy for people who will be sent to a proposed 750-person asylum centre near Bicester, Oxfordshire.

The government's decision to build the centre has enraged locals who fear their village life will be overrun.

Reverend Carney, who is in charge of eight parishes in the Ray Valley, was targeted by hate mail after writing in her parish magazine for tolerance to be shown to the new asylum seekers.

The plans have angered local residents

Posters circulated by groups opposed to the new centre say it will lead to increased crime, lower house prices and result in a "threat to your way of life and culture".

In the magazine Reverend Carney wrote: "The pink poster campaign suggests that asylum seekers have no interest in our culture and values.

"Yet is not the reason for coming here precisely because they would like to share our way of life?"

Strong opposition

Last week it was announced that a site between the villages of Arncott and Piddington would be one of three huge asylum centres to be built in England.

The other sites are at Throckmorton, near Pershore in Worcestershire and RAF Newton, in Nottinghamshire.

Bruce Podmore, co-ordinator of the Piddington action group, said: "We are a generous and non-racist community but believe the centre would be detrimental to our rural community."

Local MP Tony Baldry is demanding a public inquiry and more than 10,000 signatures against the plan have been handed into the Home Office saying the rural site is unsuitable for the open-door asylum-seekers' centre.