Feminist campaigner quits Twitter after fresh stream of rape threats

Caroline Criado-Perez, from north London, was subjected to a string of violent and obscene messages after she was involved in a campaign to have a woman’s picture printed on a new banknote.

On Thursday, she claimed police had lost evidence linked to the case, which was denied by Scotland Yard, and criticised officers for a lack of sensitivity.

She said: “It’s just appalling. I got an email saying ‘why don’t you go through what you’ve had?’ from three users with certain handles. It just shows such insensitivity to someone who’s been through so much, I can’t believe it. I’ve spent the afternoon crying just from the sheer awfulness of it.

“They wanted me to go through all the Tweets again because of their incompetence. Every time I have to go through it it’s reliving it all over again.”

Ms Criado-Perez received a fresh stream of violent rape threats on Thursday which she sent to police.

Scotland Yard said yesterday that officers are trying to contact the campaigner to talk about the case. A spokesman said: “We are now in a position to confirm that the Metropolitan Police Service has not lost any evidence gathered as part of this investigation. The tweets referred to by the complainant have in fact already been put to a suspect in interview.

“We are still trying to make contact with the complainant so we can discuss this matter with her and explain our approach, tactics and a summary of the evidence we hold.

“As there are three people currently on bail we will not be discussing further details of this case, except for directly with the complainant, as we must be careful that we do not do anything that may prejudice potential prosecutions.”

A 21-year-old arrested in Manchester, a 25-year-old man questioned by Northumbria Police and a 32-year-old man arrested in Bristol are all due to answer police bail in mid-September.

Ms Criado-Perez is among several high profile women to have received threats since last month, including Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy who also received abuse after she offered support to the freelance journalist.