Lout arrested after sending menacing homophobic email to former Premier League footballer Stan Collymore
Former England international player Stan Collymore. (Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty)
A man from Derby has been charged with sending a racist and homophobic email to former Premier League and English national team footballer Stan Collymore.
Collymore, who played for England between 1995 and 1997 and became a football pundit, shared the email with his Twitter followers on Saturday, June 13, and received an outpouring of support.
The email referred to the ex-footballer as a “f**king faggot”, and added: “Id [sic] love to put your mouth on the kerb and stamped [sic] on your brown head and snap that f**king jaw of yours.
“Its [sic] the least people like you deserve.”
Collymore confirmed that he had reported the abuse to Derbyshire police.
— Stan Collymore (@StanCollymore) June 13, 2020
On the phone as we speak to @DerbysPolice who are going with harassment, homophobic and racism contrary to the malicious communications act.
They are looking now for the sender according to information from public too.
Huge thanks to them for a swift response.— Stan Collymore (@StanCollymore) June 13, 2020
According to the BBC, Leo Maddocks, 37, of Francis Street, Derby, was arrested on Sunday, June 14, and charged with sending an offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing message.
Collymore later posted on Twitter that Maddocks pleaded guilty in court on Monday, June 15, and was ordered to pay £100 in compensation and £85 in costs. He will also be subject to a curfew for three months, monitored by electronic tag.
Stan Collymore has been involved in his own homophobia controversy.
Despite being an outspoken supporter of the LGBT+ community, Stan Collymore has previously been accused of homophobia himself.
I fully support the #RBGF campaign! I'd be wearing rainbow undies if I were playing this weekend! Gay, straight, transgender, OUR game.— Stan Collymore (@StanCollymore) September 17, 2013
In 2014, he was widely criticised for describing footballers that “dive” as “fairies” on Twitter.
Football v Homophobia, an organisation which challenges discrimination in the game, responded to Collymore at the time: “Whatever you think about diving, homophobic abuse is unacceptable.”
Easiest thing to slaughter a ref.
Maybe if they didn’t have so many fairies going down like Devon Lock we’d get less confused decisions.— Stan Collymore (@StanCollymore) November 30, 2014
A spokesperson for another anti-discrimination organisation Kick It Out told The Telegraph in a statement: “Only Stan Collymore himself would be able to clarify what he meant when using the word.
“There does need to be greater education around the use of such terminology, as ‘fairy’ has historically been used as a slur towards members of the LGBT+ community. It is important these sensitivities are recognised.”
Collymore has not apologised for his statement.
