A man has been thrown out of a pub in Worcester after he was seen wearing an offensive t-shirt that mocked the victims of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.
The man, aged 50, was asked to leave The Brewers Arms by the pub landlord when staff were notified of message on his t-shirt that likened the death of 96 people to pest control.
The offensive line reportedly read: “Hillsborough. God’s way of helping Rentokil.”
Landlord Mark Daniels removed the man and barred him as soon as he was made aware of the t-shirt, but he claims to have received threatening calls since the incident, the Liverpool Echo reported.
Staff did not answer calls from The Independent but a message posted from the pub’s twitter account read: “This has devastated me and my family I didn’t print or buy or wear that disgusting shirt I removed him when alerted couldn’t do anymore gutted”. A later tweet read, “getting threatening calls and all sorts all I done was the right thing?”
Support for Mr Daniel’s actions has since flooded in on twitter, with people praising the way he handled the situation and his actions. Members of the public have reportedly identified the man and discovered his address and where he works, petitioning his employer to sack him over the t-shirt.
According to The Mirror, some members of the public have ordered an eccentric list of items to be delivered to the man’s house, including four taxis, a 70-can crate of Lilt, a clown, a giant crane and nearly £2,000 worth of take-away.
A man has since been arrested by West Mercia police after members of the public reported the incident and the message on his t-shirt.
He was arrested on Monday morning on suspicion that he with intent displayed writing which was threatening, abusive, insulting and caused harassment, alarm or distress.
Superintendent Kevin Purcell said: "I understand the alarm and distress the offensive language shown on this t-shirt will have caused to both the people in and around the pub and further afield.
"I would like to thank the landlord of the pub for his support and all the members of the public who were in the pub at the time and came forward to report it.
"Police acted very quickly to arrest the individual and he remains in police custody at this time."
