Derbyshire man defends his '˜vile' greeting cards after criticism

A Derbyshire man has defended designing '˜vile' greeting cards and says the majority of responses to his work have been '˜positive'.

Samuel Hague, 29, formerly of Chesterfield but who now lives in South Normanton, has designed cards mocking Katie Price’s son Harvey, as well as ones featuring disgraced mum Karen Matthews, who was jailed after faking the kidnap of her own daughter, and another picturing prolific paedophile Jimmy Savile.

The illustrator sells them via e-commerce website Etsy for £2.99 and has an average customer rating for his cards of five stars.

Samuel said: “Unfortunately when it comes to jokes these days, someone is always going to be offended.”

He added: “I’ve had more positive responses than negative.”

Samuel, a dad-of-one, has been selling the cards on Etsy for less than one year.

And according to the website, more than 1,600 sales of his cards have been made.

This is despite receiving some criticism online over the content of the cards.

He told the Derbyshire Times that a card picturing a drawing of Karen Matthews wearing a t-shirt saying ‘Have you seen Shannon Matthews?’ is one of his best sellers.

This week two national newspapers reported how some social media users had taken offence.

But there are plenty of positive reviews of the cards on Etsy.

One person said: “Fast shipping, good customer service, excellent quality product (including the envelope) have already recommended to all friends and family.”

Another wrote: “Brilliant card that was well received. Arrived really quickly as well - thanks.”

Another posted: “My brother’s favourite card EVER! thank you!”

An NSPCC spokesman said: “Using the trauma of child abuse to sell these vile greetings cards is thoughtless and irresponsible.

“We would urge this seller to reconsider and to remove these cards from sale immediately.”

A spokesman for Etsy said: “Etsy does not allow items or listings that promote, support or glorify acts of violence or harm towards self or others.

“We also do not condone or accept profiting off of tragedy.

“We do allow some mature content, including mature language, as long as the items are properly listed as such, and we allow a wide range of items that have artistic, educational, and historical value.”