14:53 01 August 2012
A 17-year-old Twitter user was arrested on July 30 after he abused Olympic diver Tom Daley on the social networking site.
The ‘abuse’ occurred after Tom Daley missed out on an Olympic medal, which he hoped to win in memory of his dad. The loss prompted the Twitter fan to tweet: “You let your dad down, I hope you know that” and “You should be ashamed of yourself, you let our country down.”
Before the day ended, the abuser stepped up his hate tweets, adding: “@TomDaley1994 I’m going to find you and I’m going to drown you in the pool you cocky t*** you’re a nobody people like you make me sick.”
The next day, on July 31, the Dorset police made an arrest at a guest house in Weymouth. A spokeswoman said: “A 17-year-old man was arrested by Dorset Police officers in the early hours this morning on suspicion of malicious communications. He is currently helping police with their inquiries.”
Tom, who dedicated his Olympic Games performance to his late dad Rob, was ranked first place in the first three rounds of the competition, but he and partner Pete Waterfield made a mistake in the next round. This led to them finishing fourth behind China, Mexico, and the US.
Tom, whose father died last year from cancer at age 40, said that he was ‘gutted’ after the loss. He tweeted: “So sorry everyone, but we tried our best and you can’t afford to miss a dive at this standard.”
In interviews, he said: “It was an amazing experience. I went into that competition giving it my all.”