Man arrested in Twitter abuse of Guardian writer Jack Monroe
A man has been arrested for abusing out lesbian Guardian columnist Jack Monroe on Twitter.
The Twitter account behind the abuse claimed to be of Alex Wood, a former UKIP election candidate, but has since been confirmed as fake. It targeted Monroe, as well as Owen Jones.
UKIP condemned the account, calling it “vile”, and acted quickly alongside the real Mr Wood to report the account to the police.
The fake account wrote: “Your sick form of Lesbianism and militant queerism is destroying this country. Get out and give us Britain back! #VoteUKIP.”
It also added: “@MsJackMonroe I think you’re an absolute disgrace as well, Queers should all be sterilised. #VoteUKIP2015.”
Avon and Somerset Police said a 22-year-old man had been arrested after an investigation into the tweets.
A tweet from Monroe titled “final word” read: “Please do not retaliate to the trolls and abusers with abuse. Not in my name. Please, not in my name.
“Instead, if you believe in a God, Goddess, spiritual force, karma, or universal balance, pray for peace. Meditate upon kindness. Wish them better – nobody who is whole and happy seeks out strangers to deliberately target hatred.
“Please, pray for peace. Send that out there into the world and extinguish the hatred with kindness.
“Stay positive. There are good people and strong voices here. Be one of them, and not one of the others. With love, because if I have not love I have nothing.”
A statement sent to PinkNews from UKIP reads: “UKIP utterly denounces the vile and uncalled for twitter troll that is masquerading as Alex Wood. We are very sorry for the offence it has caused and treat it and the sentiments it expresses with the contempt it deserves. We have been in contact with Twitter and hope that they will delete the account as quickly as possible. So to people like Jack Monroe and Owen Jones we can only feel sympathy, no matter our differences they do not deserve these coarse and unpleasant attacks.
“Political discourse can be robust but must keep within boundaries of decency. We are also concerned that a young man is having his own name and reputation dragged through the mud, again.”
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