Police confirm man arrested over ‘racially offensive message’ sent to Wigan star Nathan Byrne
Sheffield man contacted the police and handed himself in after the Latics forward received a hate-filled message following the 2-2 Championship thriller with Bristol City
A MAN has been arrested after Wigan ace Nathan Byrne was targeted with racist abuse on social media, police have confirmed.
The Latics forward, 26, received at least one hate-filled message on Twitter after Saturday's 2-2 Championship thriller with Bristol City.
Byrne salvaged a point for Wigan, netting in stoppage time in a blow to Bristol's play-off hopes.
Following the game, the former Tottenham and Norwich forward posted a screenshot of the vile direct message, identifying the user who then deleted his account.
Wigan then announced in a statement that the club had reported the abuse as hate crime.
It read: "Wigan Athletic Football Club are angered by racist abuse received on the personal Twitter account of one of our players, Nathan Byrne, on Saturday afternoon.
"We have reported the incident to the police and will work with the relevant authorities to assist them with their investigations.
"There is no place for discrimination in society and social media is not an exception to those rules. We find this behaviour abhorrent."
Police have now confirmed a 20-year-old man from Sheffield handed himself in shortly after the incident.
The man has since been released under investigation and is now awaiting a charge by the Crown Prosecution Service.
A Lancashire Constabulary spokesperson told : "Following an incident where a racially offensive message was sent to a Wigan Athletic footballer on Twitter, a 20-year-old man from Sheffield contacted the police and then handed himself into Blackpool Police Station on Saturday evening.
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"He was subsequently arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence and malicious communications.
"It is believed that the message was sent by someone whilst they were in Lancashire."
Byrne and Wigan have also been updated on the situation.
