Police probe online ‘death threat’ aimed at DUP man

BELFAST DUP councillor Dale Pankhurst has reported an alleged death threat made to him over the social networking site Twitter to the police.

The remark was made to the north Belfast representative after he posted about being blocked from seeing the tweets of Sinn Fein MEP Martina Anderson.

An anonymous Twitter account responded, saying there would be “a place” for Dale in an united Ireland, before making the alleged threat. The tweet remains on the account.

Mr Pankhurst (below) said it was not the first online threat to him, but it was the first allegedly threatening death.

“I have had cases where individuals, mostly from a republican background, have encouraged me to take my own life,” he said. “One even said there is a bullet with my name on it. However, this is the first time someone has directly threatened me with death.

“The PSNI are currently running an investigation and they have stated they will do their utmost to pursue the individual behind this. I obviously can’t comment further, as this is a live police investigation.”

The PSNI said: “We do not discuss the security of individuals and no inference should be drawn from this. However, if we receive information that a person’s life may be at risk we will inform them accordingly. We never ignore anything which may put an individual at risk.”