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ACTION CALL: Collymore wants Twitter to stop users from racially abusing others (PA)

EX-ENGLAND STRIKER Stan Collymore has accused Twitter of not doing enough to tackle racist, sexist and homophobic messages after he was targeted by internet trolls over the weekend.

On Tuesday (Jan 21), police confirmed that they were investigating a series of offensive messages directed at the former footballer after he suggested Liverpool's Luis Suarez cheated by diving during Saturday's (Jan 18) match against Aston Villa.

Since the match, Collymore has been retweeting some of the abusive tweets he has received, including death threats, to his half of a million followers and has called on Twitter to take action.

He wrote: “In the last 24 hours I've been threatened with murder several times, demeaned on my race, and many of these accounts are still active. Why?”

“I accuse Twitter directly of not doing enough to combat racist/homophobic/sexist hate messages, all of which are illegal in the UK.”

The 42-year-old shared his shock that Twitter had still not taken any action.

In another tweet, he said: “Several Police forces have been fantastic. Twitter haven't. Dismayed.”

Former Britain’s Got Talent judge and journalist, Piers Morgan was also subjected to abusive tweets after he joined calls for police and Twitter to take action over the abusive messages aimed at Collymore.

The former tabloid editor tweeted: "I repeat, racist abuse & death threats both criminal offences in UK. So keep spewing it, trolls, and I will have you ALL dealt with."

West Midlands Police confirmed on its official Twitter page that Staffordshire Police were investigating "alleged abusive tweets to Stan Collymore" and urged people to block and report abuse at report-it.org.uk.

Today (Jan 22), Twitter issued a statement about how it deals with abuse.

It read: "Direct, targeted abuse and specific threats of violence are against our rules. You can let us know if you see abusive tweets by using the new 'Report Tweet' button or through our online forms.

"Our Trust and Safety team works 24 hours a day to respond to reports and we are increasing the size of this team to make our response time even faster.

"We also have a clear process for working with the police and are in ongoing communication with relevant UK police forces to make sure they are aware of our policies."