Police probing online racial abuse of Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka after the Euro final loss arrest 11 people following 600 reports from across the UK
Police investigating the online racial abuse of England players after the Euro 2020 final against Italy have made 11 arrests so far.
Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were abused after they missed penalties in the shoot-out defeat at Wembley last month.
The UK Football Policing Unit say its has had more than 600 reports from across the country and 207 were criminal in nature, with 34 accounts being in the UK.
The unit has made data requests to social media firms to progress and where there have been responses the information has been passed on to local police forces.
Officers arrested 11 people on suspicion of a number of offences including malicious communications and breaching section 127 of the Communications Act 2003.
Marcus Rashford (pictured after his miss), Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were abused after they missed penalties in the shoot-out defeat at Wembley last month
The UK Football Policing Unit say its has had more than 600 reports from across the country and 207 were criminal in nature, with 34 accounts being in the UK. Pictured: Sancho after his missed penalty last month
Of the 207 criminal posts, 123 accounts belong to individuals outside the UK and the details of those people and cases are being passed on to the countries.
The unit is waiting for data from social media companies on the remaining 50 account holders.
Chief Constable Mark Roberts, National Police Chiefs' Council football policing lead, said: 'There are people out there who believe they can hide behind a social media profile and get away with posting such abhorrent comments.
'They need to think again - we have investigators proactively seeking out abusive comments in connection to the match and, if they meet a criminal threshold, those posting them will be arrested.
'Our investigation is continuing at pace and we are grateful for those who have taken time to report racist posts to us.'
The unit has made data requests to social media firms to progress and where there have been responses the information has been passed on to local police forces. Pictured: Manager Gareth Southgate hugs Bukayo Saka after he missed his shot
He continued: 'The complexities of investigating social media abuse cannot be underestimated.
'A vast amount of work has gone in to identifying these 11 individuals. I would like to thank Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for responding to our requests promptly.
'In the meantime, we are seeking engagement with the players themselves to offer our support, and seek their input for our investigation and subsequent prosecutions in conjunction with the CPS.'
Those arrested so far in the Football Policing Unit's operation range in age from 18 to 63.
They include three people from London, two from Christchurch, Dorset, one from Runcorn, Cheshire, one from Sale, Greater Manchester, one from Folkestone, Kent, one from Reading, one from Shrewsbury and one from Worcester.
They have all either been released under investigation pending further enquiries or bailed to return at a later date.