The Standard – Kenya: Teenager presents himself to police after Ian Wright detailed vile racist abuse he received | The Standard

A teenager has handed himself in to police after Arsenal legend Ian Wright revealed the sickening racist abuse he had been subjected to.

Former Gunners and England striker Wright on Monday tweeted screenshots of a series of messages he had received on Instagram.

More than 20 messages were sent directly to Wright from the troll, including racial insults and references to the Match of the Day pundit’s family.

The vile messages included phrases like “****** monkey”, and “*** *** monkey *****”, while another threatened to put Wright “on his death bed”.

On Tuesday night, Irish police released a statement saying a teenager had handed himself in.

The statement read: “An Garda Siochana is investigating an incident where abusive/racist comments have been re-posted on social media platforms.

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“No formal complaint has been received but an investigation has commenced into the comments in line with our diversity and integration Strategy.

“A male adult teenager has presented voluntarily at a Garda Station and has been interviewed.

“A file is now being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

“An Garda Siochana are appealing to the public not to engage in social media commentary in relation to this matter.”

Wright had posted three screenshots of abusive messages he had received on his Twitter account on Monday.

In a despairing post, the 56-year-old tweeted: “I know I’m not meant to look at them but these messages still hit me so hard man. This is a child!!!”

The former Arsenal forward’s post came as ex-Aston Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor revealed he too had been targeted and called a “n*****” by an Instagram user, while family members including his children were also threatened.

The disgusting slurs are another hideous example of racism towards football figures, following a season marred with several incidents.

Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger claimed he was abused by opposition fans during his sides clash with Tottenham back in January.

This followed a similar incident involving a Manchester City fan allegedly making a racially-related gesture towards Manchester United stars Fred and Jesse Lingard.

Back in October, an FA Cup clash at Yeovil Town was called off following complaints from a number of Haringey Borough players that they were being targeted with racist abuse from the crowd.

Wright was present in the BBC studio for England’s European Championships qualifier in Bulgaria just days before, where the match was almost abandoned after fans made monkey noises towards some Three Lions players.

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