'I'm gonna be the first thing u see when u wake up': Horrifying image of masked knifeman sent to campaigning MP Stella Creasy by Twitter troll
- Troll has been suspended by Twitter and reported to police over message
- Another told Ms Creasy to ignore a rape threat because 'You're not that hot'
- Abuse of women online appears to be out of control after latest vile threat
- Historian Mary Beard demands end of 'threats of violence and death' online
By MARTIN ROBINSON PUBLISHED: 09:09 GMT, 5 August 2013 | UPDATED: 13:10 GMT, 5 August 2013
A terrifying picture of a masked man brandishing a large kitchen knife has been sent to a female MP as the abusive 'trolling' of high-profile women on Twitter continues to escalate. Labour's Stella Creasy was warned by the troll: 'I’m gonna be the first thing u see when u wake up', just days after she was threatened with rape by a different online abuser.The latest shamed Twitter user, sent an image from the horror film Halloween, and has been reported to the police and suspended by Twitter.
Chilling: An abusive Twitter user has sent this horrible image to a female MP as trolling of women online appears to be getting out of control
Suspended: The man, who goes under the name @Murkztah_ has been thrown off Twitter and reported to police for telling Stella Creasy: 'I'm gonna be the first thing u see when u wake up'
Ms Creasy retweeted the disgusting message as an example of what trolls have threatened her with, all because she had successfully campaigned for Jane Austen to appear on the new £10 note.Two arrests have already been made in relation to those threats.
Another man tweeted the Shadow Home Office Minister this weekend to say not to worry about the rape threats because 'You're not that hot'. Guardian columnist Hadley Freeman, Independent columnist Grace Dent and Europe editor of Time magazine Catherine Mayer, as well as a number of other women, have previously said they had been the subject of bomb threats on the site.
Outrage: Stella Creasy is one of several high-profile women threatened with bombing, rape and violence because they backed having Jane Austen on a £10 note
Television classicist Mary Beard has called for repeated 'threats of violence and death' against her and other women on Twitter to be distinguished from mere abuse. Ms Beard, a professor of classics at University of Cambridge, last night contacted police after receiving a message claiming a bomb had been left outside her home.
Professor Mary Beard was sent a bomb threat on social networking site Twitter. It is the latest in a series of threats and vulgar insults she has been subjected to
Speaking to BBC Breakfast today, the 58-year-old revealed that she has since received further threats on the social media site claiming that the originals were 'just a practice run'.Ms Beard said: 'I've had lots of abuse, but only recently have I had these things actually threatening violence rape and death.'I think we've got to be quite careful about drawing a distinction between those things because abuse is very nasty, it's sexist, it's misogynist but I think in some ways you can cope with that by naming and shaming.'That's what I have quite often done - earlier this week I retweeted one lad's Twitter threat and some threatened to tell his mum and that sort of solved it.
'I think you have to be absolutely clear that these threats that have been coming to me and to other women and also, I have to say, to women who aren't lucky or unlucky enough to be in the public eye - these are criminal threats, they are threats of violence and death and all you can do is take them to the police.'There is no two ways about it, threatening to kill someone is a crime and that's what I and other people have done and I hope other women who get these threats will do the same.'Ms Beard said that although Twitter had been 'slow off the mark' to address the issue, she was happy with the support she received from the site in the last 24 hours.Tony Wang, Twitter UK general manager, posted a series of tweets yesterday saying abuse was 'simply not acceptable'.His messages came after the website clarified its rules on abusive behaviour and put extra staff in place to handle reports of abuse.A row over a 'twitter silence' created by journalist and author Caitlin Moran also erupted yesterday after Ms Beard said she was breaking her silence to report the threats she had received.
Interview courtesy of BBC Breakfast
The TV classicist informed her followers of the violent threat
Sickening: She called the hollow threat 'stupidly nasty'
The professor also tweeted about her struggle to report the threat to the website's administrators
Journalist Giles Coren replied by tweeting Ms Beard: 'But isn't the point that if you're not looking it's not there? If you weren't on, you wouldn't have seen them? Then they'd stop''In short, if a tree falls on Twitter, but you're not on Twitter...' he added.Mr Coren later wrote: 'We are arriving at the point where the anti-trolls are becoming as frothed-up, mental, mob-happy and bloodthirsty as the trolls. Sad days.' One person not taking part in the silence was trolling victim Caroline Criado-Perez, who tweeted: 'For all those getting in touch about £twittersilence, while I appreciate the mark of solidarity, I didn't instigate it & I'm not taking part' This is bc while I see the potential power of a symbolic gesture, & each must react in their own way to abuse, personally it is not how I choose to react. I choose 2 remain on twitter. I choose 2 £shoutback. And I choose not 2 stop even 4 a day (sic).'Scotland Yard said it has launched an investigation into eight allegations of online abuse and threats.The force said: 'Detectives from the Specialist Organised & Economic Crime Command have taken responsibility for the investigations into a number of allegations recently made to the MPS relating to allegations of malicious communication made on the social networking site Twitter.'The Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU), who hold the police national cyber crime remit, is now investigating allegations made by eight people that they have been subject to harassment, malicious communication or bomb threats.'It said the decision was taken to centralise the individual investigations, including three from outside London.
A terrifying picture of a masked man brandishing a large kitchen knife has been sent to a female MP as the abusive 'trolling' of high-profile women on Twitter continues to escalate. Labour's Stella Creasy was warned by the troll: 'I’m gonna be the first thing u see when u wake up', just days after she was threatened with rape by a different online abuser.The latest shamed Twitter user, sent an image from the horror film Halloween, and has been reported to the police and suspended by Twitter.
Chilling: An abusive Twitter user has sent this horrible image to a female MP as trolling of women online appears to be getting out of control
Suspended: The man, who goes under the name @Murkztah_ has been thrown off Twitter and reported to police for telling Stella Creasy: 'I'm gonna be the first thing u see when u wake up'
Ms Creasy retweeted the disgusting message as an example of what trolls have threatened her with, all because she had successfully campaigned for Jane Austen to appear on the new £10 note.Two arrests have already been made in relation to those threats.
Another man tweeted the Shadow Home Office Minister this weekend to say not to worry about the rape threats because 'You're not that hot'. Guardian columnist Hadley Freeman, Independent columnist Grace Dent and Europe editor of Time magazine Catherine Mayer, as well as a number of other women, have previously said they had been the subject of bomb threats on the site.
Outrage: Stella Creasy is one of several high-profile women threatened with bombing, rape and violence because they backed having Jane Austen on a £10 note
Television classicist Mary Beard has called for repeated 'threats of violence and death' against her and other women on Twitter to be distinguished from mere abuse. Ms Beard, a professor of classics at University of Cambridge, last night contacted police after receiving a message claiming a bomb had been left outside her home.
Professor Mary Beard was sent a bomb threat on social networking site Twitter. It is the latest in a series of threats and vulgar insults she has been subjected to
Speaking to BBC Breakfast today, the 58-year-old revealed that she has since received further threats on the social media site claiming that the originals were 'just a practice run'.Ms Beard said: 'I've had lots of abuse, but only recently have I had these things actually threatening violence rape and death.'I think we've got to be quite careful about drawing a distinction between those things because abuse is very nasty, it's sexist, it's misogynist but I think in some ways you can cope with that by naming and shaming.'That's what I have quite often done - earlier this week I retweeted one lad's Twitter threat and some threatened to tell his mum and that sort of solved it.
'I think you have to be absolutely clear that these threats that have been coming to me and to other women and also, I have to say, to women who aren't lucky or unlucky enough to be in the public eye - these are criminal threats, they are threats of violence and death and all you can do is take them to the police.'There is no two ways about it, threatening to kill someone is a crime and that's what I and other people have done and I hope other women who get these threats will do the same.'Ms Beard said that although Twitter had been 'slow off the mark' to address the issue, she was happy with the support she received from the site in the last 24 hours.Tony Wang, Twitter UK general manager, posted a series of tweets yesterday saying abuse was 'simply not acceptable'.His messages came after the website clarified its rules on abusive behaviour and put extra staff in place to handle reports of abuse.A row over a 'twitter silence' created by journalist and author Caitlin Moran also erupted yesterday after Ms Beard said she was breaking her silence to report the threats she had received.
Interview courtesy of BBC Breakfast
The TV classicist informed her followers of the violent threat
Sickening: She called the hollow threat 'stupidly nasty'
The professor also tweeted about her struggle to report the threat to the website's administrators
Journalist Giles Coren replied by tweeting Ms Beard: 'But isn't the point that if you're not looking it's not there? If you weren't on, you wouldn't have seen them? Then they'd stop''In short, if a tree falls on Twitter, but you're not on Twitter...' he added.Mr Coren later wrote: 'We are arriving at the point where the anti-trolls are becoming as frothed-up, mental, mob-happy and bloodthirsty as the trolls. Sad days.' One person not taking part in the silence was trolling victim Caroline Criado-Perez, who tweeted: 'For all those getting in touch about £twittersilence, while I appreciate the mark of solidarity, I didn't instigate it & I'm not taking part' This is bc while I see the potential power of a symbolic gesture, & each must react in their own way to abuse, personally it is not how I choose to react. I choose 2 remain on twitter. I choose 2 £shoutback. And I choose not 2 stop even 4 a day (sic).'Scotland Yard said it has launched an investigation into eight allegations of online abuse and threats.The force said: 'Detectives from the Specialist Organised & Economic Crime Command have taken responsibility for the investigations into a number of allegations recently made to the MPS relating to allegations of malicious communication made on the social networking site Twitter.'The Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU), who hold the police national cyber crime remit, is now investigating allegations made by eight people that they have been subject to harassment, malicious communication or bomb threats.'It said the decision was taken to centralise the individual investigations, including three from outside London.
