A man has been arrested in connection with racist Twitter messages sent to West Ham United footballer Carlton Cole, Essex Police confirmed today.
The 22-year-old man from Southend, Essex, wrote two posts yesterday following West Ham's 3-0 Premier League defeat at Swansea City.
The tweets questioned Cole's performance and used a racist term to describe him. The 28-year-old forward retweeted the comments from his @CarltonCole1 account.
Essex Police said on their own Twitter account: "Police have arrested a 22 year old from Southend following tweets to @carltoncole1. Investigation ongoing."
An Essex police spokeswoman told Reuters: "The man has been arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence following tweets sent to Carlton Cole."