Village hairdressing salon called ISIS forced to change its name after threatening email claiming to be from terror chief
Police are now probing the email, while Karen Lawrence has had to change the name of her business to Studio No. 5
A HORRIFIED hairdresser has been forced to change the name of her business from Isis after receiving a threatening message from someone claiming to be the leader of the terror group.
The salon received an email claiming that they were using the terror group's name in vain.
Beauty therapist Karen Lawrence said the email was from someone using the name Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi - the name of the terror leader.
And while the mum-of-three says she does not know if it was a prank, she said it was enough to make her fear for her safety.
The 54-year-old immediately tore down the sign from her shop in Writtle, Essex.
"I don't want to jeopardise any investigation by saying exactly what the email said, but it was enough to make me upset and frightened and call the police," said the businesswoman, who employs 11 people.
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"The police said you need to take this seriously and prior to that we had lots of comments on Twitter and Facebook and shares on Lad Bible and sites like that.
"I got the email around August time and showed it to my husband and he said 'I don't like this you need to call the police'.
"They said it could be a hoax or someone messing around, but you need to take this seriously."
She added: "The policeman who came round was a really nice guy and said 'If I were you I would change your name', and we took the sign down the next day."
The beauty worker has now changed the name of her firm from Isis - named after the Egyptian Goddess - to Studio No. 5.
Following the email, staff at the unisex salon feared walking home late at night.
Workers even had to be escorted home, and were not allowed to be alone in the salon at one point in case of an attack.
Karen said: "It is not just from ISIS supporters.
"We have had plenty from people who seem to think we're in league with them.
"On the day Donald Trump was elected we had a particularly threatening phone call, even though we'd already changed our name.
"You'd think common sense would prevail but apparently not."
Mrs Lawrence has owned the business for 16 years, which sits in a quiet corner of Writtle.
Mrs Lawrence estimates the change of name and business branding has cost her roughly £1,000.
"All this has cost me the best part of £1,000 and I had just got over the recession and come out the other side and then this happened,"; she said.
The businesswoman, reliving the most recent call which came just after Donald Trump was elected US President on November 8, said: "The phone went at night and I thought it would just be my kids and a man's voice just said 'Is this ISIS?' and I said 'No it's Studio No. 5' and he just put the phone down.
"It was really menacing, my client's daughter was just in floods of tears."
Cops are still probing the threatening email.
She said: "At the start I was quite bloody-minded about it. I thought: 'We were here first, why should we have to change?' But in the end I decided to change the name for the sake of our safety.
"I've got a family, and I don't know what someone might do. I don't know if I'm being watched or what.
"It's cost an absolute fortune, though. We've had to change everything, from the website right down to the stationery.
"A lot of loyal customers have had to get used to the name change, but overall I think it's made a positive difference. And we're so grateful for all our customers who have supported us through the whole thing.
"The police are now dealing with the threatening email we received and are tracking that, and we're just hoping it all dies down now.
"It's been frightening, though. Obviously most people thought it was rather silly, but all it takes is someone with a loose wire who thinks we're in league with ISIS.
"It's hard enough trying to run a business at the best of times, let alone with all this. We've always been a lovely community hairdressers, and we don't deserve what we've had to put up with."