Boy cuffed after Twitter troll's drown threat to Olympic diver Tom Daley
A teenager has been arrested on suspicion of malicious communications after Brit Olympic diver Tom Daley was swamped by abusive tweets. The unnamed 17-year-old suspect was cuffed at a guesthouse in the Weymouth area earlier today, according to the BBC. Dorset police's press office wasn't responding to calls from The Register at …
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Re: Compare and contrast
Yes, he has been threatening a number of people including Tom Daley. Initially I thought that this was well OTT for just saying "You've let your dad down", but having seen a lot of other tweets he's made, then a think a massive scare from being arrested, etc is well needed and about time for this kid. It's not just TD that he's been harassing.
Re: Compare and contrast
He threatened, but with the same amount of force as Paul Chambers.
And the teen didn't know about Tom's dad's death. I mean, I didn't know his dad had died either. Not everyone reads the news from cover to cover and remembers it for months afterwards.
Re: Compare and contrast
Yeah riiiight.... Why would you say "You've let your dad down" then? Why not your country/mother/colleagues, etc?!
Course he knew. As I said before, saying just that does not warrant arrest, it's the further very nasty things he's said to Tom and many other people previously that warrants this kind of treatment. Lovely that it's only come to light after he attacks someone famous, but well at least he'll hopefully stop harassing others out there.
@The Axe
"And the teen didn't know about Tom's dad's death. I mean, I didn't know his dad had died either. Not everyone reads the news from cover to cover and remembers it for months afterwards."
And if he was arrested for that particular tweet, then that would be silly. But to then go on to threaten to drown him and shoot someone else, as well as his historical tweets of threatening to stab Muslims, then I can see them having a word around that.
On this occasion I support this action, by all means troll someone by calling them shit, but invoking their dead dad is low.
Treat me like an idiot
I have a hope that the youth is chastised appropriately - and yes appearing before a magistrate could be appropriate. Saying he is only 17 is no excuse - it's only a year off being of a level of intelligence to be able to decide who should run the country! Blabbing out such crass crud on Twitter is the same as spraying a message on a wall or printing it on the front page of a newspaper. You don't know who is going to see it nor how they may react to it.
I'm sorry to see IT being used this way. It's really useful for aiding communication, but such stuff like Twitter....... Pah!
Perhaps it need's some form of transaction monitoring to stop the abuse of others by a minority of idiots Or perhaps people who abuse it should be entered into the Darwin Awards!
Re: Treat me like an idiot
He was more than chastised by the baying twitter mob who called for his head.
Which was worse, him calling Tom Daley some names or the thousands of Daley's fan club tweeting his phone number, abusing him, wishing he killed himself?
The law should not have come into this, just like it shouldn't for Guy Adams or Paul Chambers.
The guy who blew it out of all proportion was Tom Daley himself. He is the cause of the whole problem. If it wasn't for him, Rileyy_69 would still be an unknown.
Re: Treat me like an idiot
Having his bile re-tweeted and seen by thousand was a risk that Rileyy_69 ran when he said it in the first place.
Re: Treat me like an idiot
@The Axe - Wonderful: In your mind the victim is the one in the wrong and the person who threatened to kill him is the truly aggrieved party.
Re: Treat me like an idiot
Is Tom Daley really the victim? He's got thousands of followers. He's probably got hundreds of tweets a day mentioning him. Some are probably not very nice. He should be used to getting nasty messages. Part of being in the public eye.
As for Rileyy_69. He's a twat to put it politetly. He wasn't the victim at the start. But he is when he gets hundreds of abusive tweets aimed at him.
Tom's abused his position to get his followers to pick on Rileyy_69, why else would you retweet an offesive message.
Re: Treat me like an idiot
@The Axe;
I was with you until you said that Tom Daley was the cause of the whole problem. What a completely twattish thing to say.
And fuck justice, this is karma. How many times have we been cut up on the motorway, suffered verbal abuse by an overpuffed yob drunk and out of his depth, been a victim of stalking or abusive phone calls, witnessed any number of downright rude, disrespectful, upsetting scenarios and, despite knowing that judicial action is impractical and unlikely, nonetheless wished that the perpetrator receive some kind of comeuppance to shock them into sensibility?
Petty aggression has the power to ruin lives, precisely because we feel powerless to do anything about it. Hence, it's delicious to see just one of these twats step over the line and be rudely awakened with the realisation that yes, you can be held accountable for your actions. Hopefully others may think twice.
And that, after all, is the true value of judicial punishment; not to destroy the punishee, but to discourage those who may be tempted to follow.
One tweet, possibly 2 or 3 could be considered as heat of the moment reaction like you would have watching someone scoring against your favorite team.
A string of tweets over a longer period are much more and no matter the age are premeditated.
This requires some form of chastisement as its up there will bullying via SMS and needs stopping.
To be honest
A court summons, a visit to the magistrate's court and an injuction banning him from being abusive on the internet would probably be a more proportionate response. If he were to break that injunction (and I'm assuming he doens't already have one), then that would be the time to arrest the idiot - and make no mistake, he is an idiot, both for having the opinions he does, and for expressing thme so publicly.
To be honest all his days
> A court summons, a visit to the magistrate's court and an injuction banning him from being abusive on the internet would proba....
This could happen in Britain without an arrest?
Here you get charges dismissed, a police caution or a court appearance after an arrest.
(Unless a fiat issued by the home office allows the cops to ignore 8 centuries of human rights.)
@I. Aproveofitspendingonspecificprojects
Yes, this would happen without an arrest - an injunction such as a restraining order is a civil matter. If he doesn't turn up to court to explain himself, the he doesn't get the chance of defending his actions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_injunction
Arresting him is disproportionate, giving him a gagging order is not, IMHO. This has nothing to do with 'ignoring 8 centuries of human rights', it is more a case of this being the sort of thing the civil courts are for, and therefore the appropriate action. The Home Office has bugger all to do with it.
So will the police be pursuing every person who insults or threatens me on the internet now? No? Of course not, I'm not rich and famous so I just have to deal with it.
If you go anywhere on the internet and participate in any public forum you get morons who will insult, swear, and threaten you/your mom/your pets. Everyone else just ignores this noise but if you're a celebrity then the police will now chase each and every one down and prosecute them?
Off-topic, but....El. Reg...
Instead of saying "Dorset police's press office wasn't responding to calls"
I'd rather see something like "Dorset police couldn't give a fuc*king monkeys to be arsed to answer the phone". Kinda puts the shoe on the other foot, don'cha think?
I wish all newspapers would do that kind of un-comment...
Cyber bullying?
Please grow a pair, if you can't deal with frustrated people who don't have anything better to do with their life than to talk smack about you then how are you going to deal with the real world where everyone is backstabbing everyone.
Police arresting people for talking shit is a dictatorship, EOD.
Re: Cyber bullying?
They should nail his bollocks to the wall.
Oh wait, can I get arrested for that?
They shouldn't nail his bollocks to the wall
Re: Cyber bullying?
So says an AC - Whatsup honey? you scared or summink
I am in two minds on this
Firstly the Riley character is a twat of the highest order and thats pretty clear from the timeline on twitter, but equally Tom Daley is a media tart who re tweeted it with the clear intention of setting his tweetbase on the idiot.
Clearly the tweeter needs help of some sort, but equally if your going to foist yourself on the public with documentaries, videos and all sorts of social media telling us all how great you are its likely to attract the wrong kind of attention when you don't deliver.
And the reality is, if you where a normal member of the public the police would tell you its not a police matter.
I doubt the Chinese team spend as much time posting pics on facebook and twitter as Tom does.
Re: I am in two minds on this
- I doubt the Chinese team spend as much time posting pics on facebook and twitter as Tom does. -
True...what with the main social media sites being Tencent Weibo, Sina Weibo, QZone and RenRen. Facecrook and Twatter being pretty much unused.
Raising a pint for the future success of Mr Daley in years to come. With luck this Olympics as well when he competes for his individual competition. Also a pint raised to wish Mr Westfield luck as well.
1984 here we come....
First off this lad was a bit of an idiot, I've not seen all the posts so don't know if any are worse/more abusive than the "you've let your dad down" one but on the strength of the tweets I have seen I have to say this is a bit OTT.
Is it really a criminal offence to say something that upsets someone? Fair enough if you use something about an individuals personal atttributes (black/white, gay/straight, ginger/normal non-spawn of satan, etc. etc.) but from what I saw this kid's ramblings didn't fall into any of the "ist" catagories, unless I missed the new "twatist" definition.
From what I've seen his tweets were insensitive, hurtful and plain idiotic but Criminal??? Struggling to see that one....George Orwell knows what we're talking about....
Re: 1984 here we come....
So, to your mind, if he had teased him for being ginger, that would have warranted an arrest, but merely threatening to drown someone should be fine?
Re: 1984 here we come....
...but some of his later tweets threatened to drown people and shoot people, and those are definitely outside the law.
Re: 1984 here we come....
Tom: So you chose to ignore the entire first paragraph of my post then?
"First off this lad was a bit of an idiot, I've not seen all the posts so don't know if any are worse/more abusive than the "you've let your dad down" one but on the strength of the tweets I have seen I have to say this is a bit OTT."
I don't have hours of spare time to peruse the internet looking for the smallest titbit of news. If he did indeed threaten to drown Daley then that is crossing the line from mere twattish behaviour to criminal. I mean if he wanted to drown someone don't bother with the sportsmen, just start with the gingers, the won't mind honest.
Re: 1984 here we come....
@ Brian,
Fair enough in that case, I did say in the first place I hadn't seen them all and didn't know if there were any worse than the "you let your dad down" post.
Threatening to drown someone is obviously crossing the line. Mind you, if the scrawny pic on his twitter profile I'd like to see him try drowning Daley, I'm pretty sure I know who would come out on top. Love him or hate him Daley's an athletic guy. My money's on the lad who spends his time in the pool for a living...
Re: 1984 here we come....
No, I just chose to focus on you coming on here and spouting a bunch of misinformed nonsense.
If you had actually read the fucking article, it contains all the information that you "don't have hours of spare time" to find. Plenty enough time to check if someone has responded to some of your inane drivel though, eh?
Re: 1984 here we come....
"Tom: So you chose to ignore the entire first paragraph of my post then?"
I didn’t miss the first paragraph of your post, but I am of the mindset that unless you are in receipt of ALL of the facts then you don’t know enough to make judgement.
Threatening to kill someone IS a criminal offence in this country and his guilt needs to be decided by the courts !!
Re: 1984 here we come....
Nah I just get an email saying "some dick has replied to you....."
The law and police in this regard are moronic in the extreme.
Basically twat boy says bad things. Boo 'effin hoo.
FFS, arrest? Really? Have any of these idiots been to a football match, pub, office? Ever driven a car?
Rather than a lengthy court case, jury trial and involving all those lawyers
Tom Daley should be allowed one free opportunity to punch the kid once in the jaw.
It's what would have happened if the kid had the courage in the first place to say it to Toms face.
alternative...
Get the little **** out in Olympic Park, put him in stocks and then let all of TeamGB throw rotten tomatoes at him.....
Re: alternative...
I would second that assuming you are talking about the lad the police arrested.
Re: Umm...
When did responsibility for your actions become optional?
Re: Umm...
Sticks and stones, sticks and stone.
If we were to exact the full extent of the law for every infraction we would be living in Hell. I can't comment on the threats (probably not credible) as those tweets are not public, but one would have thought public ridicule is more than adequate punishment for the insensitive comment.
If you want people to be arrested for comments like that, time to put Frankie Boyle et al in chains. Time to re-try Paul Chambers and find him guilty again. Time to...well, you get the idea.
So what has this kid done? Made a rather repugnant comment and some (unverified) threat. He's a dickhead. We don't have prisons big enough if we were to gaol all the dickheads.
When will they learn?
If you threatened someone via phone you'd go to jail so why are the clowns on TWITter, Farcebook and elsewhere so brazen and ignorant?
Send round the Rozzers
Maybe they will scare the little creep into being a bit more sensitive.
This is a lesson for us all....
If you're going to kill someone, please announce it on Twitter first so the police can come and arrest you.
Anyone found killing people without telling everybody first will be considered very naughty.
I'm not sure how I feel about this. Being a moron isn't a crime but if he was making death threats then that is being a bit too much of a dick.
I can't say I feel it should be criminal. Why not ban his home from the internet and then let his parents take care of the rest when he has to explain why they can't have internet for 6 months or a year.
I'm puzzled
>Daley, ..., came fourth in the men's synchronised 10m platform diving Olympic event on Monday
I understand Daley had a partner in this event So little is mentioned of him I wonder where he finished or if he had anything at all to do with Daley's result.
Re: I'm puzzled
His partner screwed the pooch on the 4th dive, ensuring they finished 4th (instead of gold, which is the position they were in before the 4th dive). It's well documented on any sports site, less so on IT sites...
The problem with todays yoof....
Is that they don't know how to make a proper death threat. Something along the lines of "Do you think a corpse of someone your size would fit in the boot of my citron? What if it was in pieces?" would have been a lot more fun and a lot less actionable...
Mines the one with the get out of jail free card in the pocket...
I don't think there's anything wrong with Tom Daley's use of Twitter to chat to his fans.
The Weymouth guy's time line was full abuse (including racist comments) to various Twitter users and celebrities. I doubt the police will do anything, but hopefully it'll shock him out of his obnoxious bullying.
I really don't understand people sometimes -
It is a criminal offence to issue a death threat - it does not matter HOW you issue a death threat - it is still an offence. If the kid did manage to kill Daley and then you all heard about how he had issued death threats to Tom via Twitter and the police had done nothing about it - the shoe would be on the other foot - you would all be calling the police to be investigated/fined/locked in stocks etc.
Posting a death threat in the mail / shoving it through someone's letter box / taping it to the car windscreen / texting them it / posting it on a social network - it's all the same action - credible or not - the police have to investigate.
Had the kid NOT issued death threats - and still been arrested - we would be talking a different kettle of fish.
people need to get a grip on reality.
This is not arresting someone for thought crime, The person involved, his entire post was to cause upset and distress. I doubt the authorities could have done much until an alleged death threat took place. Deciding if he actually was serious about that threat is not yours, mine or the police forces job. That's a job for the justice system. In all probability, it was not a serious threat, but maybe the whole issue of going through the legal process with the threat of 3 years jail hanging over your head will be a deterrent enough for others thinking of following him in his stupid comments.
The sort of person that is doing this type of trolling is the type we had back in school in the days before internet, the ones that would poke, push and torment until the victim exploded in a fit of rage and then would claim to be the victim.
Would this nob have said the same thing to Tom in front of all Toms mates? no,,, he would have been grabbed and dragged around the back of the swimming pool and given damn good kicking.
Trolling time..
... oh oh oh oh... Trolling time!
Reaction from a few words gives the select few a buzz...
Sadly, normally these people would have been bullied themselves. Though logical thinking would make you come to the conclusion that the reverse would be the case (afraid not!).
The only way to defeat these idiots is to front them (via the police) and watch them almost poop themselves...
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