George Hook to report hate letter to Gardaí

Rugby pundit and radio presenter George Hook has said an anonymous letter urging him to kill himself is “water off a duck’s back” but warned the sender he is going to hand it into gardaí.

The Newstalk presenter read the letter out on his radio programme yesterday afternoon, saying it had arrived through the post earlier in the day.

The letter read: “George nobody likes you, not even yourself. You are a failure as a person, bad businessman, brutal husband, an even worse father. You conned your friends in business and in life. On TV and radio you are just a whinger who likes to be awkward. The reality is you are a waste of a pregnancy. An aborted foetus would have had a better impact on the world than you.

“You could have helped if you had walked off the pier when you had an opportunity. Your wife, children and people you know would have been hugely better off. You can still do it.”

In 2007, the broadcaster told a suicide conference of how he once planned to kill himself by jumping off Dun Laoghaire Pier in Dublin, but that he had backed out at the last minute.

Yesterday he spoke of his concern at the impact other people might have on receipt of such hateful correspondence.

How to deal with hate mail and trolls - http://t.co/njqH4wQSKC

— George Hook (@ghook) March 25, 2015

“For many of you out there, you may get it through social media, through email or in some other form of the internet,” he said. “This does not hurt me. But I wonder about the people, perhaps less certain of themselves than me who might receive something like this.”

Sitting a quiet corner of a restaurant on my own and reflecting on the wonderful support I have received. Thank you all

— George Hook (@ghook) March 25, 2015

Hook asked them not to give in.

He added that “unfortunately for the listener”, he was going to hand the letter over to gardaí: “I take it it’s from someone who is just a coward and a failure.”

Read More: VIDEO: George Hook reacts to extremely harsh poison-pen letter