A FAMILY has been left shaken and scared after being subjected to a racially motivated hammer attack at their home in the New Forest.

Minutes before Julian Kerr returned to his home at Efford Way, Pennington on Sunday afternoon with his partner and two children, an unknown man had smashed a series of windows with a “big heavy hammer” around 4.30pm.

Yesterday morning after continuing to clean up the mess that was left after the incident, the family discovered a note which read: “N.F. Get out our area!”

At first Mr Kerr thought this was a racial slur, before discovering the existence of the far-right group National Front.

Twenty-four hours on from the incident and police had still not conducted a visit to the family despite a number of calls, Mr Kerr said.

He claims police initially said the offence was not one they would come out to, before then saying an officer would be at the address within two hours.

Mr Kerr says nobody arrived.

“I phoned up saying it’s a crime scene, you’re supposed to make sure everything is okay,” he said.

“They (police) said there weren’t any police officers in the area and then they said someone would be round in two hours because I wasn’t happy. Two hours later and they didn’t come round.

“The council said they are going to send somebody out to board up the windows and if no one is there we are going to get charged for the call out. Nobody seems to care.

“My kids are scared, they don’t know what is going on. My daughter is five and my son is nine. They had to sleep in my room on Sunday night.

“They did not go to school. My daughter isn’t going anywhere without her mum beside her.

“She is distraught and nobody has helped us. We have spoken to police, so have my neighbours, but they haven’t done anything.”

Neighbours to the property came out after hearing the windows get smashed and one told Mr Kerr they saw the culprit walking away from the scene.

He was described as an “oldish” man wearing a long leather coat.

Blood has been left on one of the window frames, but no evidence has been collected, according to Mr Kerr.

The incident is the second time the family have been targeted since moving to the area.

Around a year and half ago, Mr Kerr said people were shouting racist abuse from the street before then trying to break into his home.

He added: “I can’t stay in this house anymore, it’s as simple as that. I’m going to have to stay up all night waiting for someone to come. My kids can’t go to school.

“There are horses around the corner so we can go for nice walks, but now when my kids are saying to me, “why are they doing this because of the colour of our skin”, and my daughter doesn’t want to sleep in her room anymore or go anywhere.”

Hampshire Police said it is investigating a criminal damage incident following a call at 4.44pm on Sunday from a member of the public. The spokesperson said neighbourhood officers will be contacting the victim.