Instagram account that sent racist abuse to Walsall's Tyreik Wright is removed

The 19-year-old, who is on-loan at the Banks's Stadium from Villa, received vile racist abuse on his Instagram direct messages on Tuesday night.

All of the messages came from an account that was not using a profile picture.

Now, Facebook – who own Instagram – have confirmed to the Express & Star that the account used to send the messages, and additional connected accounts, have all been de-activated.

Reports suggest that three accounts in total have been removed.

The Hate Crime Unit at West Midlands Police is still investigating the incident and have spoken to Wright.

Both Walsall and Villa released statements in the aftermath of the abuse and have vowed to work with the authorities.

Walsall player-coach Mat Sadler and manager Brian Dutton also spoke to the Express & Star about how they will support Wright – branding the abuse as an 'absolute disgrace'.

Villa boss Dean Smith was asked about the incident in his press conference today.

He said: "He will have all the support that is necessary from the club. It is abhorrent and shouldn't be happening. Unfortunately it is still happening.

"Players, staff and the whole of football is trying to take a stand on this. You can see people kneeling before a game to make it known no form of racism or discrimination is acceptable. We need the social media platforms to also come up with a way of making sure this does not happen."