Man, 59, arrested over ‘disgusting racist abuse’ of England Lionesses hero Jess Carter

The man was arrested in Great Harwood on Thursday, with Lancashire Police confirming he has since been released under investigation while enquiries continue

A man has been arrested by police officers investigating online abuse sent to England defender Jess Carter during the Women’s European Championships earlier this summer.

Lancashire Police arrested a 59-year-old man in Great Harwood on Thursday morning on suspicion of malicious communications in relation to some of the messages.

He has since been released under investigation while enquiries continue, a police statement said.

Cheshire Constabulary Chief Constable Mark Roberts, the National Police Chief Council (NPCC) lead for football policing, said: “The messages directed towards Jess Carter were appalling and I would like to commend her for standing up to this abuse and assisting with our investigation.

“Nobody should be subjected to such disgusting abuse, and I expect that today’s arrest will be the first of many over the coming months.

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“We want to make it clear that racist abuse of this nature will not be tolerated. Everyone is responsible for what they do and say, and we want to ensure offenders cannot hide behind a social media profile to post vile comments.”

England’s players, manager Sarina Wiegman and FA chief Mark Bullingham all rallied around Carter after she received the abuse, with Bullingham demanding social media companies do more to tackle online hate.

Comparing the messages to those received by England men’s stars Bukayo Saka, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford after the Euro 2020 final, Bullingham said: “We did think things would improve [after those messages] and we lobbied very hard together with Kick it Out and other representatives in football to make sure the Online Harms Act came through.

“I think we would have liked it to have been stronger in some cases – if you look at the specific areas like ‘legal but harmful’ and things like that. There’s a real risk that if we’re not firm in how the act is implemented, it won’t be as strong as we hope.

“I think now it’s incumbent on Ofcom to make sure they really do bring those responsible for running social media platforms to account and I haven’t seen huge progress in the last couple of years. We would like to see it now.”

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