Collymore urges action on death threat and racism on Twitter

Ex-England striker Stan Collymore has urged Twitter to do more to combat internet "trolls" after claiming racist and sexist messages are being posted by children as young as 10.

The Talksport radio pundit contacted Staffordshire Police last night after receiving a string of racist tweets, including a death threat.

Collymore, who played for Liverpool, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest in the 1990s, claims Twitter is not doing enough to verify the age of users or prevent abusive tweets.

Appearing on BBC1’s Breakfast programme, the former footballer said: “The age user range of Twitter has gone down dramatically.

“I am seeing gangs of kids from 10 to 18 goaded by adults to make racist and homophobic and sexist insults on Twitter, so Twitter need to deal with it. It’s quite horrific.

“Today’s my birthday and I would rather not be here but I am going to try to talk about this issue. Nothing seems to be done. Twitter are now hiding behind ‘We don’t discuss individual cases’.”

The broadcaster, who has attracted more than 500,000 followers on Twitter over the past six years, received the latest in a long-running series of abusive messages after criticising Liverpool striker Luis Suarez following Saturday's match against Aston Villa.

The 43-year-old added: “I have no problem with people discussing factual things about me on Twitter.

"If it's illegal, I reserve the right as a United Kingdom citizen to live within the laws of the United Kingdom - and so should Twitter."

Asked how he responded to the abusive messages, Collymore said: “I retweet, I report, I block and if it is sufficiently threatening, I will go to the police.

“I have been on it (Twitter) for six years now and it’s a fantastic tool to engage in my sport, football, with fans.

“If you disagree with a point that I make it’s absolutely fine. But I shouldn’t be racially abused for it, I shouldn’t have somebody that tweets me two days ago saying I am going to turn up at your house and murder you.”

Fellow broadcaster Piers Morgan was also subjected to abusive tweets after he joined calls for police and Twitter to take action over the abusive messages aimed at Collymore.

The former tabloid editor tweeted: “I repeat, racist abuse & death threats both criminal offences in UK. So keep spewing it, trolls, and I will have you ALL dealt with.”

West Midlands Police confirmed on its Twitter page that Staffordshire Police were investigating "alleged abusive tweets to Stan Collymore" and urged people to block and report abuse.

A Twitter spokeswoman said last night the company was unable to comment on individual users.

However, she pointed out that targeted abuse was against its rules and the site had recently made it easier for users to report abusive messages to them.

There are “established processes” in place for working with law enforcement, the spokeswoman added.

A Staffordshire Police spokesman said: “We’ve been in contact with Mr Collymore to get more information and to reassure him that we will carry out a thorough and detailed investigation.

“Such behaviour is completely unacceptable and we all have a shared responsibility to treat each other with dignity and respect.

“It’s our role to investigate complaints of criminal behaviour and, where appropriate, take action. When we become aware of complaints about potential criminal offences, we gather evidence to allow the Crown Prosecution Service to make a decision on whether to charge or not.

“Our investigation into previous alleged offences is continuing and we are currently liaising with Twitter to obtain subscriber details.”

Chief inspector Carl Ratcliffe, Staffordshire's lead officer on hate crime, said: "Sadly some people mistakenly believe that anything said or done on Twitter or Facebook somehow doesn't count, they think it doesn't matter because it's not face-to-face.

“They are very wrong. Tweeting abuse is a very personal way of causing distress to someone, and it doesn’t matter if the person is famous or not.

“Our investigation in this case is very much ongoing, and involves a number of other police forces, and agencies. We are in regular contact with Mr Collymore, providing ongoing support and keeping him updated.”

Press Association