Police chief calls for action on Stan Collymore racist Twitter abuse
Racist Twitter abuse against former footballer Stan Collymore has taken an even more sinister twist – as a police boss urged officers to take their investigations into the vile comments 'as far as possible'.
The former Aston Villa star received a direct death threat following a barrage of abuse on Twitter over the weekend, which Staffordshire Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis deemed 'abhorrent'.
Tweets aimed at Collymore include racist messages referring to the colour of his skin and threats of violence.
The abuse continued yesterday and Collymore was tweeted by a man threatening to 'murder' him. The man also adopted the hashtag #killcollymore.
The former striker, from Cannock, retweeted the message and then wrote: "I hope the police take immediate action, as it's a direct threat."
The messages, reported to Staffordshire Police and Liverpool FC, are believed to have come in response to Collymore's claim that Liverpool's Luis Suarez dived to win a penalty against Aston Villa.
The penalty sparked huge debate after the final whistle, with talkSPORT pundit Collymore, aged 42, insisting it was a deliberate dive while others, such as Match of the Day host Gary Lineker, maintained it was the right call by the referee.
Matthew Ellis has called the abuse 'abhorrent' and says he will be urging officers to take the investigation 'as far as possible'.
"This kind of behaviour absolutely abhors me," said Mr Ellis.
"The law on matters such as these is still developing and I believe a time will come very shortly when people who act is in this disgraceful way will get a nasty shock when they are tracked down.
"I will certainly be encouraging the police to take this investigation as far as possible."
Staffordshire Police press officer Faye Casey said: "We're carrying out inquiries into the alleged abuse against Mr Collymore over the weekend and have liaised with him to get more details."
"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."
