Sunderland man pleads guilty to sending racist tweet to Newcastle United striker Ivan Toney
Toney, 27, received an abusive message in December 2017 while on loan at Wigan Athletic from Newcastle United, with the club reporting the post to Twitter and Northumbria Police
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Wigan have confirmed a man who racially abused their former striker Ivan Toney on social media has been prosecuted after pleading guilty to the offence.
Toney, 27, received an abusive message in December 2017 while on loan from Newcastle and Wigan reported the post to Twitter and Northumbria Police.
"Wigan Athletic have been informed that a man has been prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service for a racially aggravated section 4a public order offence, in relation to a social media post sent to Ivan Toney during his loan spell with the club this season," the Latics said in a statement.
"The defendant, Calvin White, 25, of Hollycarrside Road, Sunderland, pleaded guilty to racially aggravated harassment and was sentenced to a community order of 12 months, 120 hours of unpaid work, and ordered to pay £170 costs.
"The club immediately notified Twitter and Greater Manchester Police after seeing the post in December 2017 and have been fully cooperative in helping the authorities identify the person responsible for the tweet."
Kick It Out said in statement: "We applaud Wigan Athletic for notifying both Twitter and the police. Discriminatory abuse is no less unacceptable when it is carried out on social media, and this shows that however and wherever this occurs there is no hiding place. However, it also proves that there is still a lot of work to be done in and around the game to tackle discrimination and educate offenders."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments