Soccer:The London Metropolitan Police have launched a formal investigation into allegations Chelsea and England captain John Terry racially abused Anton Ferdinand after spending a week "assessing" a complaint from a member of the public.

Terry has denied making a racist remark to QPR defender Ferdinand. Police have now confirmed that their dealings with the complaint have moved on and that a formal investigation has been launched.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “Police were notified of an incident on Sunday October 23rd involving alleged racial abuse. This is currently being investigated by officers from Hammersmith and Fulham.”

The English FA is also investigating the claims Ferdinand was the subject of a racial slur by Terry during QPR’s 1-0 win over Chelsea. The Chelsea player has denied racially abusing Ferdinand insisting his own response was actually a denial.

Terry, who has had a turbulent 18 months off the pitch, could find himself losing the England captaincy for the second time in his career if he is found guilty of racially abusing a fellow footballer on the pitch.

Meanwhile, Ferdinand has been targeted with racist abuse via his Twitter account after releasing a statement saying he had “strong feelings” on the matter and backed the FA’s inquiry.

This morning, Ferdinand retweeted messages of support sent to him — but also a shocking racist jibe at him from someone who appeared to be a Chelsea fan.

Ferdinand has submitted an account of his exchange with Terry to the FA, and said in a statement: “I have very strong feelings on the matter, but in the interests of fairness and not wishing to prejudice what I am sure will be a very thorough inquiry by the FA, this will be my last comment on the subject until the inquiry is concluded.”