A seventeen year old boy has been arrested for sending malicious Twitter messages to the Olympic diver Tom Daley (Great Britain), after he and team-mate, Pete Waterfield, missed out on a medal.
The teenager was held at a guesthouse in Weymouth, Dorset, hours after Daley, 18, retweeted messages he had been sent soon after finishing fourth in the 10m men’s synchronised platform diving event
A spokeswoman for Dorset police said: “A 17-year-old man was arrested by Dorset police officers in the early hours this morning at a guesthouse in the Weymouth area on suspicion of malicious communications. He is currently helping police with their inquiries.”
Daley retweeted a message that said: “You let your dad down i hope you know that.”
Daley’s father, Rob Daly, passed away last year after battling brain cancer. Adding salt to his defeat, Tom Daley had previously revealed he hoped to win a medal in his father’s memory. He stated, “[My dad] gave me all the inspiration that I’ve needed. Winning a medal would make all the struggles that I’ve had worthwhile. It’s been my dream since a very young age to compete at an Olympics…I’m doing it for myself and my dad. It was both our dreams from a very young age. I always wanted to do it and Dad was so supportive of everything. It would make it extra special to do it for him.”
In response to the teens initial insults Daley tweeted: “After giving it my all… you get idiots sending me this…” then retweeted the message.
The seventeen year old did later tweet his apologize but by then it was too late. The damage had been done.
He tweeted, “@TomDaley1994 I’m sorry mate i just wanted you to win cause its the olympics I’m just annoyed we didn’t win I’m sorry tom accept my apology.”
He then added: “please i don’t want to be hated I’m just sorry you didn’t win i was rooting for you pal to do britain all proud just so upset.”
Perhaps he grew angrier when his apology didn’t warrant any sympathy or acceptance. He later released another hateful tweet to Daley that read, “i’m going to find you and i’m going to drown you in the pool you cocky twat your a nobody people like you make me sick”.
Other tweets to some fellow Twitter users criticizing his earlier messages read: “i dont give a shit bruv i’m gonna drown him and i’m gonna shoot you he failed why you suporting him you cunt” and “do you want me to come to your fucking house now with a rope and strangle you with it”.
Can you say crazy! This young man is obviously disturbed.
However, this is actually pretty surprising sending hateful messages on social networking sites aren’t anything new.
But the lesson here guys, be careful what you tweet!
(Photos: Getty Images)