Flag torn down and burned, says GB swimmer's mum

The mother of a Team GB swimmer has said an England flag put up outside her house has been taken down and burned.

Caroline Peaty, mother of triple Olympic gold medallist Adam Peaty, said she had not put the flag up but that it was one of a number attached to lampposts on her street in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire.

Seeing them had given her "a really good feeling," she said, adding it was an indication of people's pride in their country.

She said after checking CCTV, she had seen "two young people" removing a number of the flags overnight on Saturday.

She said the following morning she had then discovered the remnants of the burned flags.

"I was disgusted, really, because I'm proud of our country and I'm proud of the people that fought for our country."

Ms Peaty added: "It's nothing to do with racism, this is our country, lots of young men lost their lives for us to have the freedom to fly our flags."

She said she had a flag flying on her own property "all the time" as a way of recognising her son's sporting successes.

One of her neighbours called the police over the flags that were damaged, she said, but had been told there was little they could do without more evidence.

Staffordshire Police has been approached for a statement.

Ms Peaty said she wanted the perpetrators to go and watch what the armed forces did to protect the country, which may give them a different view of the flag.

She told BBC Radio Stoke it was "a bit upsetting" and it felt to her as if there was not respect being shown towards the country or towards people's property.

"It's OK for [the vandals] to ruin people's property, take things down without permission – so what does that say to our younger generation? That they can do what they want?"

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