Dozens spoken to by police over social media comments

The force has taken action against 81 people since 2010 for crimes ranging from harassment to sexual grooming.

The largest number of arrests and cautions was against people breaching restraining orders and those committing harassment with 16 people each.

Eight people were dealt with for assault and seven for breaching non-molestation orders.

Three were arrested for sexual grooming and five others were cautioned or arrested for sexual offences, including one of inciting or causing a child into prostitution or pornography.

Two people were dealt with for blackmail and four for causing fear of violence.

There was one arrest for threat to kill.

Former Villa striker Stan Collymore, who lives in Cannock, reported racist abuse made on Twitter aimed at him to Staffordshire Police.

The force started investigating and was critical of Twitter for not providing police the identities of those behind the comments.

A 17-year-old boy was arrested in Dorset in 2012 for abuse aimed at Olympic diver Tom Daley. The abuse included comments about the bronze medallists deceased father.

Peter Nunn, 33, from Bristol, sent abusive Twitter messages to Labour MP Stella Creasy after she campaigned to put Jane Austen on the £10 note. He was jailed for 18 weeks earlier this year.

Those who subject others to sexually offensive, verbally abusive or threatening material online are currently prosecuted in magistrates' courts under the Malicious Communications Act, with a maximum prison sentence of six months.

Under the Act it is an offence to send another person a letter or electronic communication that contains an indecent or grossly offensive message, a threat or information which is false and known or believed by the sender to be false.

More serious cases could go to crown court under proposals by the Government, where the maximum sentence would be extended.

Since April, sharing sexually explicit images of people without their permission has carried a two-year prison sentence.

Calls for a bespoke law gathered momentum after high-profile leaks of intimate celebrity images featuring the likes of Rihanna, Jennifer Lawrence and Tulisa Contostavlos in so-called 'revenge porn' by ex-parters.

The Crown Prosecution Service has four categories where social media comments could amount to a crime.

They include, credible threats to a person's life or safety or property, persistent harassment and ongoing abuse aimed at a person, breach of court orders, and communications which are grossly offensive, indecent, obscene or false.