A Muslim family in Stockport has been left shaken after a pig’s head was mounted on the gates of their family home – an incident which police are treating as a suspected hate crime.
Camran Butt, 41, said that he, his wife and two young children were left shaken by the shocking act of Islamophobia in Stockport earlier this month.
Police are investigating the “appalling and deliberate act” after the pig’s head was found mounted on the gates of the family home on the morning of Friday, January 9.
Butt, who lives in Cheadle, said he was taking his nine-year-old son and five-year-old daughter to school when he made the grim discovery.
“My kids were shouting ‘there’s a fox’. I just thought they were messing about and then I saw it on the floor. Instantly I just thought ‘oh s***, what on earth has gone on here?’” Butt told the Manchester Evening News.
Eventually, Butt told his children that “it was a dead pigeon as I didn’t want to alarm them.”
The pig’s head was on the floor when Butt and his children found it.
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“My wife was really shocked and ran straight back inside. I checked the camera footage and you could see them spiking it on the gates. It must have fallen off when we opened them in the morning,” Butt said.
‘Out of nowhere’
Reviewing the footage from his CCTV cameras, Butt said he had “no idea why it happened”.
“They just appeared and seemed to move in and out in a professional manner. It’s not just kids daubing some graffiti or throwing eggs over the gate.”
The community in which Butt lives is very diverse, and not Muslim-majority by any means. Butt told the Manchester Evening News that there was a “big Jewish community… Hindus… and other Muslims.”
“We’re not very outward in practising our religion and we’re not easily identifiable as Muslims.”
Butt claims that the targeted attack has left them very confused, as he has not been in the public eye or been vocal or protested on social media. “It’s just come out of nowhere,” he said.
Butt’s wife was particularly affected. “I’ve tried to play it down but it’s really taken its toll. She feels very vulnerable and exposed, really scared about what could happen next.”
Butt said his neighbours had left the family “touched” after offering their support. “They reached out, knocked on the door and spoke to us and said it’s terrible what’s happened, and that they will keep an eye out,” he said.
Footage of the crime
Security camera footage shows two unidentified individuals approaching the property, after which one appears to unwrap the pig’s head before proceeding to spike it on the front gate of Butt’s property.
The incident was reported to Greater Manchester Police (GMP), who are now carrying out an investigation. No arrests have been made at this point.
In a statement, GMP said: “We’re investigating a suspected hate crime after reports of an incident on Bruntwood Lane, Cheadle, which is believed to have occurred in the early hours of Friday 9 January 2026.”
“Following the incident, the victim and their family were visited by officers to take a full crime report. An officer from the local neighbourhood policing team is currently progressing the investigation and multiple lines of enquiry have already been undertaken,” the statement continued.
As part of the statement, Chief Inspector Lisa Devitt from the force’s Stockport district said: “This was an appalling and deliberate act against a family home – no-one should be subjected to incidents of this manner. We are treating this incident as a hate crime and are doing everything we can to find those responsible.”
A similar hate crime was reported nearby in Stockport in December 2022, when a pig’s head was thrown onto the roof of Heaton’s Muslims’ Community Trust (HMCT) building in Mersey, Stockport.
