South Yorkshire Police officer leads probe into 'utterly vile' racist tweets aimed at England stars

A top South Yorkshire cop is leading the police probe into racist tweets aimed at England stars after the team lost in the Euro 2020 final on Sunday.
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Detective Chief Inspector Jamie Henderson has revealed that he has spent the last five weeks working with the UK Football Policing Unit as its ‘investigations lead’ officer during the football tournament.

On Sunday night, racist abuse was hurled at a number of England players after the team lost a penalty shoot-out to decide the match.

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Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were the three players singled out for abuse after missing their spot kicks.

Detective Chief Inspector Jamie HendersonDetective Chief Inspector Jamie Henderson
Detective Chief Inspector Jamie Henderson

England manager Gareth Southgate said the racist abuse aimed at the players after the Euro 2020 final defeat by Italy was “unforgivable”.

“It's just not what we stand for,” he added.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Football Association also condemned it.

DCI Henderson said: “Over the past five weeks I have supported the UK Football Policing Unit as Investigations Lead.

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“Last night (Sunday) we saw some utterly vile comments posted on social media, racially abusing our own England players.

“My team are now in receipt of a number of reports and have commenced investigations to identify those people responsible.

“We are also working with the FA to ensure the players are supported.

“It is important that you continue to report the posts to the social media platforms, @kickitout and the police via 101/online so we are aware and can take action.”

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The Metropolitan Police said the abuse ‘will not be tolerated’.