Catherine Scott: Why should Andy Murray's grandparents be subjected to hate mail?

The senseless death of West Yorkshire MP Jo Cox made even the most hardened of politicians take a moment to reflect.

One of the most striking things about Jo Cox was her compassion and caring for others. She had belief in a better world.

In the week in which she was killed it is even more shocking to read about the hate letters received by Andy Murray’s grandparents. Nameless individuals have been sending abusive letters to the Roy and Shirley Erskine who are both in their eighties.

The couple said the letter which criticised Andy’s accent and his game, had ‘upset’ them.

Murray this week secured a record fifth win at Queen’s - the perfect preparation for the forthcoming Wimbledon championships.

But his win wasn’t just greeted with accolades. Some individuals not only took to social media to attach the 29-year-old, they even put pen to paper to make personal insults about him to his grandparents.

It may be the case that a person in the public eye these days seems to have to put up with people attacking them via Twitter or Facebook, but surely not their parents and definitely not their grandparents.

Surely his grandparents should be allowed to bask in their grandsons hard fought success without having to personal attacks about him sent to them directly?

Mr Erskine says he finds it hard to deal with the ‘very nasty’ comments he read on line.

It is especially hard to accept in a week when hatred for another human being ended in such tragedy last Thursday.

It is hard to imagine such hatred for people they haven’t even met, but these obsessions start somewhere.

It is time for us to stop accepting that it is fine for people and their relatives to be abused on a national and even worldwide scale just because the technology is there to allow it.

I am a champion of freedom of speech but there has to be a limit to the abuse dealt out in its name.

I don’t have the answers but it is time we took a long hard look at the society in which we live, where people are allowed to abuse people they don’t know just because they happen to be successful, campaigning or in the public eye.

Hopefully there will be many legacies left by Jo Cox, but if none other then surely it has to be an end to such hatred and a more compassionate world.