Pundit returns to social media after Twitter intervention

The 43-year-old former Bradford City and England striker closed his account after speaking out about racist messages and death threats he has received, and criticising Twitter for not doing more to stop it.

The decision to close his Twitter feed also followed The Sun’s front page interview with his ex-lover Ulrika Jonsson in which she accused him of hypocrisy, saying: “No one should give this man a platform to claim he is a victim. With his history of violence it is beyond ironic.”

Collymore attacked her in a Paris bar during the 1998 World Cup when they were dating. He later blamed petulance, jealousy and too much drink.

The former Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa player spoke on the Bleacher Report website about the “15-year-old story”, saying it had “no relevance to being racially abused”.

He claimed the story implied there was a justification for the abuse he received, and “that because it’s Stan Collymore, it’s OK”.

He added: “A 14-year-old is being talked to by police in Merseyside and a 15-year-old in Bedfordshire.

“I think it goes to show there is a real issue that Twitter needs to tackle.”

Collymore was singled out by some Reds fans after he claimed the Kop star Luis Suarez dived to win a penalty against Aston Villa.

Internet trolls joined the abuse and he was sent racist messages and death threats.

Staffordshire Police are investigating.

Twitter’s alleged inaction led Collymore’s employer talkSPORT to announce it would no longer promote the social networking site on air.

In a statement on its own site, Twitter told users: “Direct, targeted abuse and specific threats of violence are against our rules.

“You can let us know if you see abusive Tweets by using the new ‘Report Tweet’ button or through our online forms.”

Later Collymore tweeted: “I deactivated due to more racism/threats overnight which are being passed on, and to see if twitter’s protocol works. We’ll see!”

Twitter said its trust and safety team, which is being increased in size, works 24 hours a day to respond to reports of abusive tweets.