'Trolls' sending messages of hate to Kate and Gerry McCann are probed by police
ONLINE messages from 'trolls' who have directed abusive threats at the parents of Madeleine McCann are being examined by police.
A file stretching to more than 80 pages of Tweets, Facebook and forum messages suggesting Kate and Gerry McCann should be "tortured" or "killed" have been handed over to Scotland Yard.
One message board comment reportedly said: "These 2 should burn in hell."
According to Sky News other posts in the online dossier include:"I hope that the McCanns are living in total misery."
Some messages were even said to have been directed at Madeleine's younger siblings, now aged nine.
The dossier of posts have been gathered by members of the public who are concerned about the abuse.
A campaigner, who did not wish to be named, told Sky News: "We're very worried that it's only going to take somebody to act out of some of these discussions, some of the threats that have been made, and we couldn't live with ourselves if that happened and we had done nothing."
The material is being assessed by officers who are liaising with prosecutors and the missing girl's family.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "We can confirm we received a letter and documentation on September 9 which was passed to officers from Operation Grange. They are assessing its contents and consulting with the CPS and the McCann family."
Metropolitan Police have been searching for Madeleine since she went missing in Portugal in May 2007, aged three.
Social network trolling is a mounting problem for police.
Last year Scotland Yard said around 1,500 additional crimes linked to internet abuse were being reported to the force each year.
