[Closed] Latest Tweet Arrest

I was going to call you a **** but I guess that's illegal now 😉

It might be in poor taste, but what has he been arrested for?

Edit: [i]suspicion of malicious communications[/i]

All sounds a little cold war to me 🙄

Daley responded by calling him an idiot. I hope he's going to be arrested as well.

It might be in poor taste, but what has he been arrested for?

For being beastly to poor Tom.

Daley responded by calling him an idiot. I hope he's going to be arrested as well.

Well it's poor reporting all over as only 1 or 2 places mention that he also [url= http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/news/a396280/tom-daley-london-olympics-twitter-abuse-being-looked-into-by-police.html ]threatened "to drown you in the pool you cocky tw*t "[/url]. I believe in free speech, but is this not a death threat? Even my rude and speak before you think type brain thinks this is actually illegal.

So I imagine he was probs arrested for that and not for saying that he had let his Dad down (which is sad, lame and rude, but not arrestable IMHO)

I despair at the state of our police and criminal justice system. John Terry, Rio-F, the guy at the airport, now this headline chasing by the cops. Someone really needs sacking, starting with Kier Starmer.

cyber bullying innit?
deserves a thick ear shirley?

Open water swimmer Keri-Anne Payne also posted: "Ignore the idiots! Not worth it."

Lock her up.

IT wasn't just one comment, the guy on twitter was extremely abusive and writing lots of disgusting abuse and threatening stuff, not just to Tom Daley. it isn't acceptable that people can write stuff like that, there is an offence under the malicious communications act hence he's being dealt with. I think in this situation it's a sensiblea nd correct decision.

Arrested isn't charged, if Daley made a complaint, then I guess the police have an obligation to investigate. Although if all it entails is as reported I suspect it shouldn't be given the priority it has.

On reflection, I'm glad he's been arrested. The message he sent to Tom was particularly nasty, and it seems to be far from an isolated incident.

I'm not too concerned about sentencing, if an arrest means that the unpleasant excuse for a human being (and others like him) learns that he can't abuse people with impunity and hide behind the anonymity of the Internet.

Vile little toe-rag.

As Cougar said, but i read his tweets last night there were loads of them it wasn't just the one or two about letting his Dad down or drowing him in the pool.

reading the kids timeline he's a potty mouthed idiot.

I'm not sure that should be a criminal offence though.

He did tweet quite a few threats offering to kill people. Hopefully he'll realize that's not a good idea, then the world can carry on as normal 😉

[b]I'm not sure that should be a criminal offence though.[/b][i]

It may make other scum bags think twice before posting such offensive stuff.

From what I can gather, he sent the tweet about Tom Daley’s dad, then when Tom Daley retweeted it, apologised profusely and locked his account.

He later re-opened it and went into full-bore troll mode, with the death threats and obscenities towards other users. Probably thought he could get some small notoriety out of it, Frankie Boyle-style, which has backfired somewhat.

I'm assuming everyone knows but, just for context,

The message that got everyone's backs up was:

@TomDaley1994 you let your dad down i hope you know that

Daley's father died last year, aged 40. There was a piece about it on the telly yesterday, saying how devastated he was.

MC & Cougar +1

I'm not sure that should be a criminal offence though.

Why? If you said it to someone in the street it would be unnaceptable, so why is it by twitter/mail/phone/whatever?

Why? If you said it to someone in the street it would be unnaceptable, so why is it by twitter/mail/phone/whatever?

I'm wondering the last time the police arrested someone for saying "I'm going to kick your head in" outside a pub? Last time I saw this sort of thing, the police told everyone to bugger off or they'd step in. Surely the best thing is he gets told to wind his neck in and then assuming he does, all good.

Daley's father died last year, aged 40. There was a piece about it on the telly yesterday, saying how devastated he was.

I agree that's a bad thing to say and certainly worthy of extreme disapproval but is it REALLY a police matter. I don't believe "Being a dick" is a criminal offense and if he'd shouted it at the pool, they'd have thrown him out and that would probably be an end to it. Maybe a policeman would have had a word but arrested, I doubt it.

I was going to steam in here and rant about it without knowing the full story too. The only tweet I heard was the one about his dad, and I thought it was a massive overreaction - we can't be under threat of arrest for posting our own opinions, as misguided and unpleasant as they might be.

However, death threats over the internet? Yeah...

Atlaz it wasn't just one comment though was it? Plus talking to people in the street about ie vicimt doesn't want to persue is different to idiots who are keyboard warriors, they think they can write what abuse they want and get away with it. it's simply not acceptable to hide behind a twitter account and abuse someone.

I'm wondering the last time the police arrested someone for saying "I'm going to kick your head in" outside a pub?

Irrelevant, that's not what happened. If you're going to come up with analogies, a better one would be posting someone abusive letters and death threats.

I'm assuming everyone knows but, just for context,

The message that got everyone's backs up was:

@TomDaley1994 you let your dad down i hope you know that
Daley's father died last year, aged 40. There was a piece about it on the telly yesterday, saying how devastated he was.

You get my back up. Can I have you arrested?

After he apologised, he posted:

@TomDaley1994 i'm going to find you and i'm going to drown you in the pool you cocky **** your a nobody people like you make me sick

Oh dear. Quite apart from the sentiment... the grammar! THE GRAMMAR!

Cougar/MC - Don't agree sorry. I don't view twitter as being the same as postal mail. It's essentially a load of people shouting in the street. I've had people say "I'm going to murder you" in pubs but it's not a death threat, it's a moron saying something they think makes them sound hard. Under the law, perhaps twitter is classed the same as post but the law has a tendency to catch up with technology at a snail's pace (it took years for ISPs to get some legal protection for what their users do).

There needs to be some sort of balance because if you go after every single bit of "malicious communication" on the internet, we will need about twice the size of the police force and massive holding pens. There needs to be SOME way to rein in keyboard warriors but arresting people is not the way.

Plus talking to people in the street about ie vicimt doesn't want to persue is different to idiots who are keyboard warriors

I think that quote means you think a threat in person is less worrying than some lardy bugger sitting behind a keyboard? If I said I thought the bloke who threatened me in a pub was seriously threatening me, would he get arrested or would I be told to clear off?

I've had people say "I'm going to murder you" in pubs but it's not a death threat, it's a moron saying something they think makes them sound hard.

Sounds like a death threat to me. When I was on jury service, one of the cases was a chav-on-chav death treat which was a lot more subtle than that.

Some death threats have far more intent than one from a bloke who thinks you called his pint a puff or thinks you stole his parking space (had that in Croydon Ikea carpark) I'm aware.

Treatening to kill somebody is a criminal offence.... end of. I agree that most people would make an assessment of whether there was actually an intent behind the treat - but how many kids have been stabbed over something completely trivial?

Anyway - publically sending a death threat to a 16(?) year old olympic athlete during the games? If I was Dayley's coach/family I'd want the guy arrested.

If someone threatened to kill me, I'm rather hoping that the police might be minded to do something about it.

"I'm wondering the last time the police arrested someone for saying "I'm going to kick your head in" outside a pub?"

Quite often in my experience , particuarly when it's part of repeated abuse.

what Cougar said

It always surprises me that people think the internet should be some sort of Wild west free for all where you can act and say as you like without consequences
The right to troll, behave like a cock and abuse people for no real reason is not exactly a right I value highly or feel the need to defend. they do it for reaction if the reaction is unpleasant enough they will stop.

There needs to be SOME way to rein in keyboard warriors but arresting people is not the way.

Many of you seem to only have half the story. I dont know if they have been removed but the Daley ones where trivial in comparison. It was not a case of "I am gonna kick your head in" several of them were extreme and I think if you read them you would not be making silly comparisons.

JY - Pretty sure I said that a visit was reasonable. Arrest seems a bit over the top.

Also, I find some of what comes out here or is directed at people on STW quite objectionable. Is that something we should consider a police matter?

I did think it was funny how he went from abuse to apologetic when he started trending then even more abusive. I'm glad he's getting a knock at the door from the police. I feel sorry for the kids that get this sort of abuse and the police aren't interested in pursuing as theres no headlines to be made.

Abuse is abuse, regardless of the medium used.

What he said was not 'objectionable'. It left that far behind when he started making threats to kill people, which is presumably what he has been arrested for.

I don't view twitter as being the same as postal mail. It's essentially a load of people shouting in the street.

I disagree. You post on a forum or twitter and you have published your views to the world. That carries a lot more 'weight' than a verbal statement (or even a written letter) that is heard but not recorded...

..as I am forever reminding posters on here... if you are not prepared to say it to your 'target's' face, in public, through a MASSIVE PA system, then don't type it. The fact you are behind a keyboard increases your accountability. It does not reduce it.

I'll admit, I don't get Twitter.

I especially don't get why anyone in the public eye, be they sports personality, musician or politician wants to be on it...it's rammed with utterly inane bollocks, but also holds boundless potential for ruining reputations and wrecking careers. Why would anyone want to volunteer for that?

That said, this really shouldn't be an arrestable offence.

You get my back up. Can I have you arrested?

Sure, soon as I start writing persistent, unwarranted abuse and death threats to you.

Don't agree sorry.

That's your right, of course. We'll have to agree to differ then.

I don't view twitter as being the same as postal mail.

It's not "the same," no, but it is still written communication.

I don't hold with this idea that it's "only" the Internet; the medium is irrelevant, you might as well argue that someone said something but it was ok because it was "only" on TV or in a newspaper.

If I said I thought the bloke who threatened me in a pub was seriously threatening me, would he get arrested or would I be told to clear off?

The thing is, the police don't arrest every halfwit that's sunk a gallon of Stella then starts running their mouth off at chucking out time, but instead tell them to shuffle off home and dry out, for what should be fairly obvious reasons. [b]This is an informal exception though. [/b]They'll still nick you if you persist in being an aggressive pain in the arse.

I think a number on here would be delighted to get a PA and say it to the persons face, but you are not wrong.

The police are forced to waste so much of their time on this sort-of thing these days. Constant responses to threats on Facebook and other such bollocks, they should just form an Internet Constabulary and be done with it.

I'll admit, I don't get Twitter.
...
it's rammed with utterly inane bollocks,

You're right. You don't get it.

Seems to be a real charmer: https://twitter.com/Rileyy_69

Highlights include (censorship by me):

[i]@_OllyRiley come on then you c i'll stick a knife down your *in throat now comeback and stop hiding from me[/i]

[i]@RiverCrowson I'd eat you alive you bent c*** don't mention me again okay i don't like you[/i]

Many of you seem to only have half the story. I dont know if they have been removed but the Daley ones where trivial in comparison. It was not a case of "I am gonna kick your head in" several of them were extreme and I think if you read them you would not be making silly comparisons.

Exactly.

I've not read the other stuff he's written other than a brief glance when the story was breaking (and unsurprisingly his account is now locked, just shy of 50k followers - not hard to see his motivation) but I've seen a number of comments from people who've previously attempted to report him for similar behaviour. It's not an isolated occurrence.

EDIT - account now unlocked; that's changed in the last hour.

and unsurprisingly his account is now locked

Not locked at the moment, or at least it's visible.

Edit: cross post with Cougar!

Sending death threats over the internet should rightly be an offence.

We do need to be careful though how we censor online content and transmissions though.

There is a danger any censorship laws that are brought in could be missapproraited, a bit like anti-terror legislation seems to have been.

Jesus. His feed is a car crash of semi-literate abuse.

i hope you get raped by a big black man while walking home in the dark

how do you like that then you * start I'm gonna find out where you live and torture your * house with a lighter

I'm gonna drop kick your pregnant mum then she's gonna lose her baby how do you feel

I've had enough of this. I don't want to give the pubescent idiot any more attention, and for that reason I'm oot.

The police don’t take a one size fits all approach to these sort of reports. They make an assessment of what’s been written, and the context in which it’s written (along with other variables). I would say that what has been alleged is [i]grossly offensive[/i] and could almost amount to a threat to kill, which is a separate offence under The Offences Against the Persons Act. In reality the threat probably falls short of engaging that statute, but it’s definitely a malicious communication.

Turning our attention to ‘arrestable’ - The term ‘arrestable offence’ is no longer used due to amendments made under the Serious Organised Crime & Police Act, which has standardised powers of arrest. Essentially you can be nicked for anything, whether it’s a summary or indictable offence, as long as it passes a necessity test.

I've just read this idiot's twitter feed too.

I think arrest for threatening behaviour is entirely approriate. Perhaps then he can be also given the mental healthcare he cleary needs.

I heard this on the radio this morning and thought "bit odd that, what tweeting about TD's father" but there seems to be more of it than meets the ears..
Make a specticle of the nob I say, may just put a few people off doing the same thing to others.

🙄

You're lucky you're dead asshole!

Open water swimmer Keri-Anne Payne also posted: "Ignore the idiots! Not worth it."

Lock her up.

My basement is free 🙂

<looks out of window for approaching police cars>

Firstly having read his twitter account, he definitely sounds like a nasty scrote who thinks sitting behind a keyboard makes him unreachable. Clearly he isn't. Removing this boil on the arse of humanity from the conversation...

You post on a forum or twitter and you have published your views to the world. That carries a lot more 'weight' than a verbal statement (or even a written letter) that is heard but not recorded

This is the big issue. Not so long ago if someone said something defamatory about me on usenet I could sue ISPs for hosting the content, same with hosting copyright material but that's changed because of an acceptance that technology has changed the way things work in some areas. The law is sticking to partially outdated models that don't take into account the change in media.

People have always behaved in this way but when you did it face to face you either needed to learn to run quickly, be good with your fists or you got filled in. The internet gives the cowards and loudmouths an opportunity to spout off. Police should get involved by all means, but when you look at the case of the airport tweet and these (or even the actual threats over the internet that get carried out), how do you write a law which stops knee jerk reactions but protects people as they should expect to be protected.

I'm just not sure that the answer is that every time someone makes a threat over the internet, arrests are the right thing but likewise, I'm not sure how you identify which are credible threats and which are just a gobshite.

I was told that the [idiot*] troll had not limited his activity to Twitter but had been abusing in parallel on YouTube.

* allegedly

Interesting thoughts, I'd only read the headlines.

Seems to me ASBO type legislation is better to deal with this stuff than ful on criminal. All a bit Big Brother otherwise.

All a bit Big Brother otherwise.

I dunno about that. What he's saying would be pretty repulsive to the vast majority of the population, which the approach to dealing with people like him should reflect. It's a long way from the thought police in my book.

I'm just not sure that the answer is that every time someone makes a threat over the internet, arrests are the right thing but likewise, I'm not sure how you identify which are credible threats and which are just a gobshite.

You apply the "man on the clapham omnibus" test. Clearly, no-one (except the original judge) thought the airport tweet was anything other than a joke.

Interesting that there is more to this than reported on BBC radio this morning. They focused on the unpleasant and undefensible comments re TD's father rather than the rest of it but mentioned that there was a threatening aspect to it all. This now makes sense.

Based on the appalling comments about his Dad - condemnation for sure, but can't see how this is a criminal act. Repulsive behaviour (as this is) does not automatically constitute a criminal act IMO. Equally offensive stuff is posted on here albeit not at so-called national treasures. But threatening is, so if the reports are true I hope that the law will be correctly and forcibly applied.

The guy sounds like a weapons grade pillock and he deserves whatever he gets.
He probably never thought that it would blow up this much but that fact that it has and he's posted photo's of himself as his Twitter profile picture means that more than a few people will recognise him and hopefully a couple will give him a kicking to show him the error of his ways!

Ive seen lots of posts on this and other forums of people being slightly abusive to other members.Dont recall any police action over them 😕

Ive seen lots of posts on this and other forums of people being slightly abusive to other members.Dont recall any police action over them

I don't recall anyone on here repeatedly calling another user the c-bomb and threatening to drown/stab them over the course of several hours over several different avenues (Twitter/Youtube, etc). Also not sure that it would be classed as 'slightly abusive'.

If the cretin had stopped with the initial tweet, distasteful as it was, and his subsequent apology, then it would have been fine. Unfortunately he realised his number of followers had massively gone up and decided to play up further.

Hopefully Tom Daley has enough about him to realise that some palid little oik who spends all his time in front of his PC being horrible to people and looking at porn isn't really worth taking any notice of.

You know the type - has 'karate' on his CV even though the closest he manages is the Bruce Lee poster in his bedsit or, more likely, bedroom in his Mum's house (I know this one was a kid, but there are plenty more who are sad [u]and[/u] old).

If everyone who is a 'victim' remembers that the perpetrator is likely to be a complete non-entity then hopefully they can just ignore them and they'll go away - until they actually end up in a fight and have to run away.

Quite a put-down for the oik in question to be dismissed by the goddess that is Keri-Anne Payne. The only time in his sad little life that he'll have any (even indirect) contact with a real-life attractive woman (without paying for it) and all he gets is ignored. poor little lamb!

There is a gaming forum called 'origin' part of the BF3 game.
the posting on that is troll city and chock full of nasty types threatening everything from stalking you to murder.

Police interest-ZERO

To all those who think this is a "bit Big Brother", where would you draw the line? Child porn OK as long as its not public, snuff footage?? what?

To me it seems wholly appropriate that the law be used in any instance of this nature. The only difference in doing it online than doing it face to face is that online is to vastly broader audience. So what do you reckon the outcome would be had this abuse been published in the Sun? All OK? Accptable? ...... Of course it isn't, and no reason whatsoever why it should be on the internet either.

Edit: Dynati RE : Police interest-ZERO Try making a complaint. See what happens then. I'm guessing the Police don't spend their time looking through literally billions of online sites and posts to find every single crime, but that they will look into it if there is a reason to do so.

They need to have 2 Twitters. One where everyone is nice to each other and all is sunshine and flowers and another one, unmonitored. If you use that other one then you expect to get abusive crap. If you don't want abusive crap, don't use it.

Equally offensive stuff is posted on here albeit not at so-called national treasures.

Is it bobbins...folk are often rude to each other and often because of the views they have and the feeling they "know " each other. I dont think anyone would be offensive to anyone if their father had died and I think the Hive would step in if they did - see Hora on the "rubish" thread for example.
Attacking an internet gobshite for their views on a chat forum is some way away from attacking a sportsman for trying their best and not quite medalling.
Trolling is bullying done from the comfort of a room safe in the knowledge the target wont kick your head in...no one would behave like that in public for fairly obvious reasons and they are not doing it by accident. I think the majority need some sort of help tbh from mental health services.
Then what Mrs toast says - please post up that You tube song again Mrs Toast

If the guy is a complete antisocial *insert derogatory term* and harasses people then he is probably the kind of person who does other things like steal from pensioners and vandalise things so I'm all for making an example of him. Time to get tough on people who spoil life for everyone else.

JY - sorry, but there are cases where certain STW trolls/internet bullies make spiteful, personal comments that include reference to family members and the relationships between them. You really do not need to think that hard or that far back. The only difference is the degree of unpleasantness. But that is by-the-by, as I do not think that is the matter for the police either way. (It is for the mods to deal with it, unless they choose to sanction the behaviour?). But going back to the OP, it is the threatening behaviour rather than the abusive behaviour that marks the point when the law needs to be enforced surely?

Actually "attacking sportsmen for (despite?) trying their best and not quite succeeding/medalling" is extremely common here and elsewhere and again hardly a criminal act. Merely unpleasant behaviour.

Any way, sorry I am veering a little off piste here....

Equally offensive stuff is posted on here

No it's not.

I have seen sportsmen attacked here too, but to be fair, I can't recall anybody's family being brought into it, or it going beyond the pale.

Oh, hang on, there were a few Joey Barton threads where his family connections were brought into it, so maybe you have a point.

I think a key point here is escalation.
If he wasn't arrested and shown the consequences of his behaviour do you think he would have stopped or gained momentum and continued threatening, abusing and bullying people?

It may have been mentioned already, but since the 80s, if this chap did any of this by telephone or letter, he'd also have been arrested for it.

wisepranker - Member

weapons grade pillock

Quote of the day 😀

Junkyard, ask and you shall receive! 😀

Ta I shall bookmark it this time

I thought [url= http://www.vice.com/en_uk/ ]this article on Vice[/url] summed it up in a concise, if somewhat juvenile fashion.

I had a look at this vile little scumbag's Twitter feed last night when this first broke, and I was staggered at the level of personal abuse, profanity, and outright threats of violence and arson against people.
There's no reason I can see why this 'weapon's grade*' little cock-weasel shouldn't be banged up for encitement, perhaps he might find himself on the receiving end of some of the threats he was making to others.
*(thank you for that!)

HA Ha The daily Vile:
http://www.****/news/article-2181851/We-control-Twitter-insist-police-Storm-arrest-17-year-old-offensive-tweets-Tom-Daley.html