Boy, 12, arrested for Zaha race abuse
A 12-YEAR-OLD boy was arrested last night on suspicion of sending a string of sickening racist messages to Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha. Child protection officers are likely to become involved in the case given the age of the alleged abuser, who is the second child at the centre of a football racism storm in just seven months. Zaha revealed yesterday on Twitter that he was sent abuse on Instagram, including an image of white supremacist hate group the Ku Klux Klan, and a message that read: ‘You better not score tomorrow you black c**n or I’ll come to your house dressed as a ghost.’ Another image of a box of cornflakes carried the words ‘c**nflakes’ and a photo of a man in blackface. Palace manager Roy Hodgson expressed his disgust last night at the abuse. The 72-year-old said: ‘It’s too easy for people to remain behind these websites, with their vile comments, and yet at the end we expect the
player who is hurt to shrug his shoulders and accept it is part and parcel of the game. The punishment cannot be severe enough.’ Crystal Palace condemned the abuse, declaring in a statement: ‘This is an absolute disgrace and should not be happening. We stand with you, Wilf.’ Villa said the perpetrator would be banned for life. The Metropolitan Police, West Midlands Police and Premier League — who unveiled an online abuse reporting system for players only last month — launched investigations which resulted in an arrest just a few hours after Zaha’s post. West Midlands Police said: ‘We were alerted to a series of racist messages sent to a footballer today and after looking into them and conducting checks we have arrested a boy. The 12 year-old from Solihull has been taken to custody.’ In December, Spurs stewards intervened to stop a Burnley fan, 13, racially abusing Son Heung-min.