Scottish boy describes ‘terror’ of finding racist graffiti on his English home

A 10-year-old boy has spoken of his terror after his new home in Greater Manchester was daubed with racist graffiti after moving south from Scotland with his family.

David Yamba, 10, was appearing on the Victoria Derbyshire Show

David Yamba found “No Blacks” painted on three doors in his block in Salford on February 8, five days after his family had moved in.

A 54-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated criminal damage and is being questioned by police in Manchester.

David’s father, Jackson, has criticised the force for taking more than a week to respond to his initial report of the incident.

“When I first saw I it, I thought someone might have been waiting there to see a reaction, or it might have been a joke,” David said during an appearence on The Victoria Derbyshire Show on BBC1.

“I was terrified. My dad told me to come out, but I wanted to stay indoors because I thought someone was waiting and that something was going to happen.”

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has since apologised and said it would review its approach.

Recalling the incident, Jackson said: “My first reaction was my son has been traumatised because he was crying.

“When we left the block I phoned the police to report the incident. I was told they would send someone as soon as possible. I asked my employer to return home early because I was expecting a visit.

“David was asking: ‘When will the police be coming?’ but I had no answer. We couldn’t sleep.”

The family had to leave the message on the door for more than a week as evidence.

Officers finally arrived after Jackson posted a picture of the door on social media.

Responding to Mr Yamba’s posts, GMP chief constable Ian Hopkins apologised on Twitter, saying: “That is frankly just not good enough. There may have been other issues at the time, but we should have followed up quickly. It’s an appalling crime you and your family have suffered.”