EXCLUSIVE - Pictured: Savills estate agent who claims his Twitter account was 'hacked' after being suspended over vile racist tweet about England stars who missed penalties
Estate agents Savills have suspended a member of staff after he was linked to a racist social media post abusing England players - which he said happened after his account was hacked.
Andrew Bone, a Commercial Building Manager, has called the police over the tweet, which used a foul racist term which caused widespread revulsion.
His employers Savills confirmed today they had suspended him pending the outcome of the force's investigation.
Mr Bone's Twitter profile - which he said had fallen under the control of a different malicious individual - vanished after the furore erupted.
His stepfather Robert Dutson told MailOnline: 'He didn't post the remark. His account has been hacked.
'He has contacted the police about it. They are looking into it now. 'He started getting comments saying he was racist.
'That is not him. He is not a racist. The tweet appears to have come from a device not used by this account before.'
Savills said: 'Savills confirms that the staff member connected with the racist comments placed 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 employee Andrew Bone has been suspended and says his Twitter was hacked
Mr Bone called in police over the tweet, which he said happened after his account was hacked
The post in question attracted widespread revulsion and condemnation today
One user wrote under the latest Instagram picture of Saka , 19: 'Go back to Nigeria.' While another said: 'Get out my country'
Marcus Rashford, left, and Jadon Sancho have their heads in their hands after missing their kicks
'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.'
Mr Bone lives in a two-bedroom terrace house in Sale, Cheshire, that he bought for £242,500 in September last year.
Prince William this morning said he was sickened by racist abuse of the England team, describing vile slurs at players as 'totally unacceptable'.
The Duke of Cambridge, who was at the game last night, called for those behind the messages to be punished.
And William - who is president of the FA - said the appalling remarks had to be stamped out for good.
He said: 'I am sickened by the racist abuse aimed at England players after last night's match.
'It is totally unacceptable that players have to endure this abhorrent behaviour. It must stop now and all those involved should be held accountable.'
The Royal's remark is the most high-profile intervention so far after Prime Minister Boris Johnson this morning condemned the mindless racists who bombarded Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho with abuse.
Meanwhile, England captain Harry Kane took to Twitter to condemn the abuse, saying those behind it were 'not England fans' and that we 'don't want you'.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed they will be investigating the abuse
Nineteen-year-old Bukayo Saka is inconsolable after failing to score his penalty kick and handing victory to the Italians
Nineteen-year-old Saka was consoled by Gareth Southgate as penalties came back to haunt the manager who missed his spot kick as a player at the semi-finals of Euro 1996
Another Tweeter denies racist post
A father-of-two has denied tweeting racist comments calling for England ace Marcus Rashford to 'burn his MBE' - claiming his Twitter account was hacked.
Nick Scott, 50, denied tweeting: '@MarcusRashford that MBE needs burning ya fake. Pack them bags and get to ya own country.'
The tweet was posted at 10.56pm on Sunday - just minutes after the 23-year-old Manchester United striker missed from the spot in the nail-biting penalty shoot-out.
The vile tweet came from Mr Scott's Twitter page Scottywwfc which is based in Worcester.
It was followed up at 12.43am on Monday with a tweet which read: 'i need to apologise @MarcusRashford but im still very angry. but not with you..'
The tweet attracted more than 500 replies from outraged football fans demanding the author be banned from ever watching or taking part in the sport.
Today Mr Scott, of Malvern, Worcs., denied sending the tweet, claiming his account had been hacked.
He said: 'I've had to delete my account this morning because I was hacked.
'I would never tweet anything like that. I'm just a football fan.'
Mr Scott has a YouTube page and describes himself as an 'Away Day Videographer' following Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The England and Tottenham Hotspur striker, sharing a picture of the Three Lions shoulder-to-shoulder, said: 'Three lads who were brilliant all summer had the courage to step up and take a penalty when the stakes were high.
'They deserve support & backing not the vile racist abuse they’ve had since last night. If you abuse anyone on social media you’re not an England fan and we don’t want you.'
It came as Savills estate agent launched an investigation after claims a member of staff had been behind one of the messages.
A spokesperson said: 'Savills abhors and has zero tolerance to any form of racism and racial discrimination and is appalled by the racist comments in these tweets.
'Savills is immediately investigating and will take appropriate action.'
The PM today echoed the Football Association's condemnation of those attacking the players after the team lost to Italy.
Mr Johnson said: 'This England team deserve to be lauded as heroes, not racially abused on social media.
'Those responsible for this appalling abuse should be ashamed of themselves.'
And he upped his comments later in the day, adding: 'Shame on you - I hope you crawl back under the stone from which you emerged" to the racist trolls.'
Home Secretary Priti Patel also headed up figures slamming the racists.
She said: 'Players who have given so much for our country this summer have been subject to vile racist abuse on social media.
'It has no place in our country and I back the police to hold those responsible accountable.'
It came as police began hunting the racists behind some of the vile social media posts.
The horrific comments, including the use of monkey emojis and racist language such as n****r , have led to the FA condemning its racist fans and saying they are not 'welcome in following in the team' and the Metropolitan Police has confirmed its officers will be investigating.
While thousands rallied to support the players, especially Saka, who lit up the tournament for England at the age of just 19.
What have social media sites said about racist abuse aimed at England's players?
Facebook - which also owns Instagram
A spokesperson for the Facebook Company told MailOnline: 'No one should have to experience racist abuse anywhere, and we don't want it on Instagram.
'We quickly removed comments and accounts directing abuse at England's footballers last night and we'll continue to take action against those that break our rules.
'In addition to our work to remove this content, we encourage all players to turn on Hidden Words, a tool which means no one has to see abuse in their comments or DMs.
'No one thing will fix this challenge overnight, but we're committed to keeping our community safe from abuse.'
A spokesperson for the social media site said: 'The abhorrent racist abuse directed at England players last night has absolutely no place on Twitter.
'In the past 24 hours, through a combination of machine learning based automation and human review, we have swiftly removed over 1,000 Tweets and permanently suspended a number of accounts for violating our rules - the vast majority of which we detected ourselves proactively using technology.
'We will continue to take action when we identify any Tweets or accounts that violate our policies.
'We have proactively engaged and continue to collaborate with our partners across the football community to identify ways to tackle this issue collectively and will continue to play our part in curbing this unacceptable behaviour - both online and offline.'
Calling on those behind the abuse to face arrest and prosecution, one fan said: 'I'll take these three Englishmen over any racist-moron-fake-fan every day of the week and twice on a Sunday'.
Another wrote: 'I stand with Rashford. I stand with Sancho. I stand with Saka. I stand with a whole team of brilliant men who made us all proud & represent the best this country has to offer I reject everything about the Racists & Shape Shifters who represent the worst'.
Racist social media users instantly took to the accounts of the three black players who missed penalties in last night's clash against Italy.
The players' Instagram and Twitter feeds were subjected to a barrage of racist imagery including monkey and banana emojis, as well as written comments packed with horrifying slurs.
One user wrote under the latest Instagram picture of Saka, 19: 'Go back to Nigeria.' While another said: 'Get out my country.' And another wrote: 'Take banana n****r.' And another, seemingly in support of the Italians, said: 'It's coming Rome!!! F****** n****r.'
Another user wrote, 'Foreigners are stupid,' seemingly choosing to ignore that Saka was born in Ealing, west London.
In response to the deluge of racist comments and FA spokesman made it clear that racists are not wanted in football.
A spokesman said: 'The FA strongly condemns all forms of discrimination and is appalled by the online racism that has been aimed at some of our England players on social media.
'We could not be clearer that anyone behind such disgusting behaviour is not welcome in following the team. We will do all we can to support the players affected while urging the toughest punishments possible for anyone responsible.
'We will continue to do everything we can to stamp discrimination out of the game, but we implore government to act quickly and bring in the appropriate legislation so this abuse has real life consequences.
'Social media companies need to step up and take accountability and action to ban abusers from their platforms, gather evidence that can lead to prosecution and support making their platforms free from this type of abhorrent abuse.'
And the Metropolitan Police confirmed they will be investigating the abuse and said: 'We are aware of a number of offensive and racist social media comments being directed towards footballers following the #Euro2020 final.
Julian Knight, chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said: 'The Government needs to get on with legislating the tech giants'
Boris Johnson 'totally rejects' accusation his past behaviour provoked racist abuse of black England players
Downing Street defended Boris Johnson today after he was accused of 'giving license' to racist idiots who abused black England players after the Euro 2020 final.
Labour politicians and party supporter Gary Neville hit out at the Prime Minister's own record - and that of Home Secretary Priti Patel - amid widespread public revulsion at social media hatred shown towards Three Lions stars who missed penalties in last night's Euro 2020 defeat.
They highlighted that fact that it is just weeks since Ms Patel slammed players' who took the knee in an anti-racism protest before games and said fans had a right to boo them for doing so.
Mr Johnson also equivocated over the protest that originated with the Black Lives Matter movement in the US before urging fans not to boo in recent weeks.
Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner accused Mr Johnson and Ms Patel of acting 'like arsonists complaining about a fire they poured petrol on'.
And Mr Neville, the Manchester United star turned pundit, said the PM had promoted racism by describing Muslim women as looking like 'letterboxes' in a newspaper column before he became Tory leader.
However, the attacks prompted a hard hit back by Downing Street. Mr Johnson's spokesman told reporters this afternoon that: 'The Prime Minister was clear that he wanted to see everyone getting behind the team to cheer them on. He made that clear on the 11th, before England's first game.'
The Prime Minister also went on the offensive tonight. Facing the nation at a Covid press conference he said: 'To those who have been directing racist abuse at some of the players I say shame on you and I hope you will crawl back under the rock from which you emerged.
'Because this entire team played like heroes and I'm sure that this is just the beginning of their achievements, and I say bring on Qatar next year, and let's also dare to start, together with Ireland, how the United Kingdom can host the World Cup in 2030.'
'This abuse is totally unacceptable, it will not be tolerated and it will be investigated.'
Twitter today revealed how it has removed more than 1,000 racist posts targeting England football stars following last night's penalty shoot-out defeat to Italy at Wembley.
A spokesperson for the social media site said: 'The abhorrent racist abuse directed at England players last night has absolutely no place on Twitter.
'In the past 24 hours, through a combination of machine learning based automation and human review, we have swiftly removed over 1,000 Tweets and permanently suspended a number of accounts for violating our rules - the vast majority of which we detected ourselves proactively using technology.
'We will continue to take action when we identify any Tweets or accounts that violate our policies.
'We have proactively engaged and continue to collaborate with our partners across the football community to identify ways to tackle this issue collectively and will continue to play our part in curbing this unacceptable behaviour - both online and offline.'
Facebook condemned the abuse as 'abhorrent', saying they have taken steps to remove the posts and encouraged people to use filters to block out harmful content.
A spokesperson told MailOnline: 'No one should have to experience racist abuse anywhere, and we don't want it on Instagram.
Meanwhile, social media firms were today told to get a grip on racist abuse or face punitive action in the wake of sickening abuse aimed at black England footballers.
Julian Knight, chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said: 'The racist abuse of England players online is repellent and vile.
'Perpetrators should be getting a knock on the door from the police and facing the full force of the law.
'Social media companies once alerted to this abuse have an acute responsibility to immediately take it down.
'The Government needs to get on with legislating the tech giants. Enough of the foot dragging, all those who suffer at the hand of racists, not just England players, deserve better protections now.'
England players have taken the knee to support anti-racism drives throughout the tournament, a move that has drawn vocal criticism and boos from a section of their support.
In turn the FA and senior players have attacked the boo-boys in the stands, stating their actions are precisely why the team feels a need to make a stand against racism.
England lost the penalty shootout 3-2 after the match finished 1-1 after extra time.
Instagram tells users monkey emojis 'DON'T breach rules' as Twitter removes 1,000 racist posts after appalling abuse of England stars - and MPs say social media firms need to do more
Instagram users reporting racist comments directed at black England football stars after last night's Euro 2020 defeat claim the social media site has failed to remove monkey emojis, because they 'don't breach the rules'.
Conscientious social media users have today launched into 'hour-long' mass reporting sessions in order to flag the abusive posts - directed at Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka - to moderators.
But the Instagram users say they have since received messages back from the Facebook-owned site saying the posts will not be removed.
The messages from Instagram say the posts reported by the users are 'not in breach' of its community guidelines.
Fans have since taken to Twitter - which revealed it had removed 1,000 racists posts today - to reveal their anger at Instagram's decision.
One user, Emily May, said on Twitter: 'I've spent an hour today reporting racist accounts. But according to Instagram monkey emojis and the N word are okay.'
Another said: 'Instagram said that the banana and ape and monkey comments on Saka's photo weren't against community guidelines. Come get your algorithm, Instagram.'
Today Instagram's owner Facebook condemned the abuse and said the site was 'committed to keeping our community safe from abuse'.
It is understood the site takes 'context' into account when reviewing content containing emojis that could be 'mundane'.
But a spokesperson told MailOnline that the emjois 'definitely do' breach Instagram's guidelines when used as they have been against England footballers.
Royalty, leading politicians including the Prime Minister and even the Archbishop of Canterbury slammed trolls who targeted Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Sako after last night's Euro 2020 heartbreak.
Contentious social media users have today launched into 'hour-long' mass reporting sessions in order to flag the abusive posts - directed at Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka - to moderators
Meanwhile, Times Radio journalist Kait Borsay, suggested that it may be 'harder' for Instagram's reporting system to pick up the comments as easily due to them being 'emojis' rather than written words.
Facebook says its automated system may struggle to pick up these emojis, but that, if reported, would be passed to one of its 35,000 moderators to review.
It comes as Twitter today revealed how it has removed more than 1,000 racist posts targeting England football stars following last night's penalty shoot-out defeat to Italy at Wembley.
A spokesperson for the social media site said: 'The abhorrent racist abuse directed at England players last night has absolutely no place on Twitter.
'In the past 24 hours, through a combination of machine learning based automation and human review, we have swiftly removed over 1,000 Tweets and permanently suspended a number of accounts for violating our rules - the vast majority of which we detected ourselves proactively using technology.
'We will continue to take action when we identify any Tweets or accounts that violate our policies.
'We have proactively engaged and continue to collaborate with our partners across the football community to identify ways to tackle this issue collectively and will continue to play our part in curbing this unacceptable behaviour - both online and offline.'
Meanwhile, social media firms were today told to get a grip on racist abuse or face punitive action in the wake of sickening abuse aimed at black England footballers.
Royalty, leading politicians including the Prime Minister and even the Archbishop of Canterbury slammed trolls who targeted stars such as Rashford, Sancho and Sako after last night's Euro 2020 heartbreak.
Police are now investigating but social media firsts have come under presser to take swifter and more decisive action against offenders.
Facebook today condemned the abuse as 'abhorrent', saying they have taken steps to remove the posts and encouraged people to use filters to block out harmful content.
A spokesperson told MailOnline: 'No one should have to experience racist abuse anywhere, and we don't want it on Instagram.
'We quickly removed comments and accounts directing abuse at England's footballers last night and we'll continue to take action against those that break our rules.
'In addition to our work to remove this content, we encourage all players to turn on Hidden Words, a tool which means no one has to see abuse in their comments or DMs.
'No one thing will fix this challenge overnight, but we're committed to keeping our community safe from abuse.'
Twitter said it had removed more than 1,000 tweets and blocked several accounts.
But Julian Knight, chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said: 'The racist abuse of England players online is repellent and vile.
'Perpetrators should be getting a knock on the door from the police and facing the full force of the law.
'Social media companies once alerted to this abuse have an acute responsibility to immediately take it down.
'The Government needs to get on with legislating the tech giants. Enough of the foot dragging, all those who suffer at the hand of racists, not just England players, deserve better protections now.'
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said this morning that he shared the ager at the abuse, adding: 'Social media companies need to up their game in addressing it and, if they fail to, our new Online Safety Bill will hold them to account with fines of up to 10 per cent of global revenue.'
The Bill will put a new legal duty of care on online companies to protect their UK users from harm, including people receiving abusive comments, threats and harassment online.
However, it has also faced criticism over fears that it risks stifling the free press, 'silencing marginalised voices' and introducing 'state-backed censorship on a scale never seen in a liberal democracy'.
A mural honouring England star Marcus Rashford was vandalised less than an hour after last night's Euro 2020 final defeat
Marcus Rashford, left, and Jadon Sancho have their heads in their hands after missing their kicks
One user wrote under the latest Instagram picture of Saka , 19: 'Go back to Nigeria.' While another said: 'Get out my country'
England's Kalvin Phillips embraces a member of the England staff and Mason Mount waves as the team prepare to head to their homes after a month in their team bubble
Campaigners warned that in its draft form it could also be used to target wider freedom of expression including from the media – and could even result in blanket bans for publishers.
Ofcom will be in charge of regulating social media firms, with the power to issue fines up to £18million and block access for repeat offences.
The aim is to make Britain one of the safest places to be online in the world - especially for children.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said this afternoon social media companies 'can no longer ignore' racist and vile abuse on their platforms.She told the Commons: 'Social media companies, in particular, have a clear responsibility for the content that they host on their platforms and they can no longer ignore some of the appalling, vile, racist, violent and hateful content that appears on their platforms.'