The Savills estate agent accused of posting a racist tweet about black England footballers following Sunday night’s Euros defeat to Italy at Wembley Stadium has been arrested.
Andrew Bone, 37, self-presented at Cheadle Heath police station earlier today and was subsequently arrested arrested on suspicion of an offence under Section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act, Greater Manchester Police said.
Bone, who works as commercial building manager, claimed that his Twitter account was hacked and called for police to investigate after Savills suspended him.
The vile Tweet, published shortly after England’s Euros defeat to Italy at Wembley Stadium, had said: “N****** ruined it for us”.
The hateful tweet was directed at England players Bukayo Saka, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford. The message has since been deleted.
Police officers carrying evidence bags and a police radio were spotted searching Bone’s house in Manchester this morning and spent around 20 minutes gathering evidence before they left, with one officer holding a laptop.
In a statement, GMP said a suspect remains in custody for questioning. Detective Inspector Matt Gregory of the force’s Trafford division said: “The actions of a small number of people overshadowed what was a hugely unifying event for our country on Sunday evening.
“We are firm in our commitment, any racist abuse whether online or off is not acceptable.
“We now have one man in custody and our investigation continues. If you think you have information on this post, we’d like to hear from you on 0161 856 4973, quoting incident number 109 of 12/7/2021.
“You can also anonymously contact the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Anyone who has been a victim, or witness of hate crime, please do report it at your earliest opportunity, using 101, LiveChat or online at gmp.police.uk. Alternatively you can visit www.letsendhatecrime.com.”
Savills said Bone has been suspended pending the outcome of the force’s investigation.
In a previous statement, Savills said: “Savills confirms that the staff member connected with the racist comments on Twitter claims that his account was taken over by a third party and that the matter is being referred to the Greater Manchester Police.”
“Savills has acted swiftly and confirms that the individual is suspended from duty pending the findings of this investigation, which is being progressed as a priority. Savills has a policy of zero tolerance on any form of racial abuse or discrimination.”
Of course he was never hacked – he just said that to the police because he’s not just a racist, he’s a coward and a liar as well.
Now they can add perjury and wasting police time to his list of charges.
There is undoubtedly a hateful and racist contingent within an otherwise tremendously supportive body of football fans, but this does not define football, or the vast majority of its fans. So let’s not hang Savills’ reputation by the reprehensible actions and view of one of their employees. It could have been any of us who unknowingly employed a racist.
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Spot on. Not that I have any time at all for these bigoted imbeciles but the fact they literally never stand by the courage of their convictions is one of the most unforgivable parts of this whole sordid episode
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