Will Getty eventually go away?

[Frustrated]

Hi,
On 6 may 2010 I received a threatening letter from Getty stating copyright breach. The images  of which there were two, were cache images, and were not currently on the website when they issued the letter, they related to a pre 2009 site. This website had been created by a web designer who is no longer trading. They were asking for £1391.50+vat

Due to family difficulties, I was nursing my dying father at the time, I decided to remove the contents of the website entirely to avoid any further disputes and ignored Getty's letter.

On 9 July 2010 I received another threatening letter asking for payment.
On 4 March 2011 I received a final demand for payment of £1392.00 threatening court action.
On 9 Jan 2012 I received a letter from Simons Muirheads & Burton, no where on the letter does it state they are Solicitors, looked suspicious and they were now demanding £1550.00+vat at 21%
On 20 April 2012 I received a letter me to reply to their earlier letter.

To date I have ignored all letters. Had I been guilty then I would have paid up but I am not, I run a small business from home. I lost my father to cancer in Jan and at the same time my husband was diagnosed with cancer. We are already in debt, and it is my plan to continue to ignore these threats. The stress these letters cause is affecting my ability to sleep. I have never ignored letters like this before but upon reading american guidance, it says ignore and do nothing because once you acknowledge these letters they hound you. Does anyone know how long Getty keep pursuing you?  Does anyone know if this Simons Muirhead & Burton are real solicitors?  Normally solicitors letters state on the letterhead they are solicitors, however it just says they are law society accredited. There doesn't seem to be any regular request for cash, ie every six months you get a letter. You just get to thinking perhaps they have given up and then out of the blue here comes another letter.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

I'm not up to speed on UK law, but will make a couple of points..

You state "I have never ignored letters like this before..." yet you also state..

"I decided to remove the contents of the website entirely to avoid any further disputes and ignored Getty's letter." and you further this with... "and it is my plan to continue to ignore these threats" a bit inconsistent, when you clearly made the decision to ignore all of the letter from the onset. To answer your question, no they are not going to go away, as they want your money. There is some information and opinions to just ignore the letter and wait it out, I however do not take that stance, but regardless if you ignore it or not they won't just go away. If the images were not on your site in the first place, then you should have addressed it as such in the first place and they may have let it go, but since it was ignored, there is some guilt implied, which just feeds their fire. I would look into the statute of limitation in the UK and see where you stand, here in the states it is 3 years, after which time you can politely bring this to their attention, and they they will go away..