A 22-year-old man arrested in connection with sending homophobic abuse on Twitter to food writer Jack Monroe has been released on bail.
The Guardian columnist and campaigner said on Friday that she was leaving Twitter because she did not feel it was a safe place to be after receiving messages filled with hate and vitriol, which she described as suffocating.
Avon and Somerset police confirmed that a 22-year-old man from the Yeovil area arrested in connection with posting homophobic messages had been bailed until Saturday.
The abuse came after Monroe wrote a comment piece for the Guardian following Thursday’s election debate in which she praised the Green party leader Natalie Bennett’s stance on immigration and criticised the Ukip leader Nigel Farage’s “circus act”.
The poster, writing under the account Alex-WoodUKIP, wrote to Monroe: “Your sick form of Lesbianism and militant queerism is destroying this country. Get out and give us Britain back! VoteUKIP.”
On Sunday Joshua Bonehill said he was arrested in connection with the abuse. He says he was held for 15 hours for questioning by police, but did not comment on whether he was guilty. In a statement on his website, Bonehill said his “ordeal” was “sickening” and he was being persecuted for free speech.
Monroe became hugely popular thanks to her recipes for people struggling on tiny budgets. She described the abuse as “all a bit exhausting, frightening and very deeply saddening”.
