Internet 'Troll' Sentence

  • Wales
Liam Stacey admitted posting the racist comments Credit: D Legakis / Athena Pictures

A man who admitted posting racially offensive comments about the Bolton Wanderers footballer Fabrice Muamba is due to be sentenced later. Liam Stacey was told he should expect to face a jail sentence after pleading guilty to the charge of a racially-aggravated public order offence at Swansea Magistrates last week.

The Swansea University student posted the comments on Twitter shortly after Mr Muamba collapsed during an FA cup tie against Tottenham Hotspur earlier this month. He was arrested shortly after the comments were made.

This case has highlighted the ongoing issue of 'trolling' on the internet, which is an act where someone posts offensive comments on social networking sites, forums or tribute pages. The comments can be racist, homophobic or threatening in nature, and victims in previous unrelated cases have included the families of dead children.

In Wales one police force has told ITV Wales it had 24 offences in the last year regarding internet 'trolling'.

These include:

  • Threats to Kill

  • Racist and Homophobic comments

  • Witness intimidation

Gwent police force says that 15 arrests have been made in regards to these offences.