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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

Wednesday 18 July 2018 13:16 BST
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Newcastle United striker Ivan Toney
Newcastle United striker Ivan Toney

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."

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