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Crime

07th Jan 2022

Piers Morgan: Online troll arrested for making death threats against TV star and his son Spencer

Steve Hopkins

Piers Morgan has had a panic button by his bed for almost a year

A suspect has been arrested for making death threats against Piers Morgan and his son, something that led to the TV star installing a panic button by his bed on the advice of police.

Officers from the Met and Greater Manchester police have been probing threatening messages sent to the TV star and his eldest son Spencer, The Sun reported.

Morgan has since tweeted the front page of the tabloid, writing “cowardly threats have consequences”.

The 56-year-old told the paper that “we must draw a line on trolls”.

“People think it’s perfectly OK to make death threats to public figures on social media but it’s not — there has to be a line drawn, especially when family members are targeted,” he added.

Threats are said to have included that Morgan was a “marked man” and that no security measures could save him with the troll adding a “promise” that Morgan was “getting killed”.

Morgan’s 28-year-old son, Spencer, was told he would “get it” if his dad didn’t.

The male suspect is believed to have been arrested under the Malicious Communications Act on suspicion of sending death threats on August 3, and his phone and tablets were removed for forensic analysis. He is understood to have been released on bail, with a decision imminent over whether he will be charged, The Sun reported.

The arrest was said to have followed a six-month investigation and comes almost a year after the troll first declared Morgan was in danger. News of Morgan’s panic alarm was reported in February 2021.

In one message to the star, the troll wrote: “Your (sic) a marked man. Calling the police, big tech or beefing up your security isn’t going to stop us getting to you, this isn’t a threat piers, it’s a promise. Your (sic) getting killed.”

He also messaged sports journalist Spencer: “If you don’t get your dad, your [sic] getting it or your mum.”

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