ByLeon Symons, Leon Symons
A spate of attacks against a businessman has culminated in antisemitic graffiti being daubed on the wall of his home in a village in County Galway.
Herb Meyer’s car had been set alight twice and now his wall has been sprayed with the words “Jew Go Home” alongside the word “Jew” and a swastika.
German-born Mr Meyer, who lives in the village of Tuam with his partner Armida Walsh, had been dividing his time between the Irish house and his main home in London.
He told the local Tuam Herald newspaper: “We had made a decision to move back to England long before these attacks but they have tainted our remaining time in Tuam, which until now has been a very happy period.”
Mr Meyer told reporter Jacqueline Hogge that he was worried about leaving his home as he feared the attackers could set it alight.
He described the two incidents when his car was destroyed. In the first, the fire was started near the back wheel while it was parked at the side of his house. The car alarm went off and the fire brigade extinguished the blaze. Mr Meyer believed children might have been responsible.
But his view changed 10 days later when there was a far more sinister incident. The couple awoke at 2.30 one morning to find the car “was like a huge torch. It was like something you would have seen during the bad days of Belfast.
“It was very frightening and the heat of the blaze cracked the double-glazing. We were lucky, as if it had been single panes they would blown in and the whole house could have gone up.”
Tuam Gardai (police) said the attacks were part of an ongoing investigation and would not comment.