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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Tom Bryant

Anton Ferdinard calls for trolls to be jailed as his tormentor walks free

Anton Ferdinand has called for jail sentences for trolls after his own tormentor walked free.

The former West Ham defender got a message of support from brother Rio after speaking of his “frustration” at the sentence.

He revealed the “perpetrator” of the “social media abuse” he had received had been given a 12-week jail term, suspended for 12 months.

Anton, 37, said: “Although we have seen a small progression with this recently. This frustration is still real.

"I feel until there is serious consequences (actual prison sentence) for this awful behaviour things will never get to a place of real change.”

He has opened up about his experiences of racism in a documentary (BBC / Wonder TV / James Ross)

In September, he told MPs the failure of social media companies to tackle the racist abuse of footballers would lead to tragedy.

He said: “What are the social media companies waiting for, are they waiting for a high-profile footballer to kill themselves?”

He added to the home affairs committee inquiry into online racist abuse: "Do they really want to make a change? So far their words are that they want to but their actions are different.”

He made a BBC documentary in 2020, Football, Racism and Me, in which he wept about his own experiences of racism.

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