Police in probe over threats to murder Sturgeon

POLICE are investigating a catalogue of online abuse against First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, including death threats, threats of violence and sexualised insults.

Extreme threats against Ms Sturgeon are so common there is even an account on Twitter highlighting at least 150 tweets featuring threats and a hate speech, the Sunday Herald reported.

The account, called @sturgeonabuse, says it is “highlighting the hate, abuse, misogyny, sexism, violence and threats the Scottish FM is subjected to on a daily basis here on Twitter”.

A large number of the chilling posts came from individuals using their own names along with photos of themselves, sometimes pictured alongside partners and images of them socialising with friends or even holding small children.

In their original posts a significant number of the online trolls said they wanted to violently or sexually assault Sturgeon, while there were others who said they hoped she would die a brutal death.

Police Scotland confirmed it was looking into the abusive tweets highlighted by the @sturgeon abuse account. A force spokesnan said: “We are aware of this account and work is being undertaken around it.”

Twitter, in response to the Sunday Herald investigation, also promised to set out a package of measures aimed at cracking down on online trolling.

A spokesman said: “We’re approaching safety with a sense of urgency. As such, we will be rolling out a number of product changes in the coming weeks – some will be immediate, while others will be more targeted to specific scenarios.”