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Another Primark shopper has found a letter claiming to be from a Chinese torture victim in a pair of budget socks.

Shahkiel Akbar was stunned after discovering the note after purchasing the black cotton-rich footwear from the value retailer’s Metrocentre store in Newcastle.

The call centre worker, from Fenham, Newcastle, became alarmed when he translated the note into English and found what appeared to be a desperate cry for help.

However a spokesman for Primark says the company believes him to be the latest in a line of customers to become caught up in an elaborate hoax, which has seen similar letters turning up among clothing bought across the country.

Shahkiel found the letter a couple of weeks after buying the socks.

He told the Chronicle : “I was really shocked. I do feel responsible now I have found this.

"I just thought I need to shout it out.”

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The 25-year-old took found an app on his phone that allowed him to take a picture of the words and translate them into English.

“It was an SOS from a 39-year-old man living in China. From the words I could translate you could see he was distressed,” he said.

“It seemed like he was risking a lot to try and get a message out.

"He said he had endured physical and psychological abuse and that he was forced to make these socks. It felt like a real burden to me.”

(Image: PA)

Shahkiel is not the first Primark customer to find a bizarre Chinese note hidden in socks.

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And the company has received similar reports from a customer in Huddersfield who bought socks for her dad.

However, a Primark spokesman says the retailer believes its products are being hijacked by someone trying to gain publicity, and the letter has nothing to do with its staff or suppliers.

He said: “The Primark name is being used to gain publicity for the plight of this individual.

"We have found no link at all between this individual and any of our suppliers’ factories in China.

"We think it is likely that the note was added after production and it is feasible it was added in transit or at a port.”