Good afternoon,
Apologies if I am contacting the wrong person but I wasn’t sure who to address this to – I was hoping to make contact with West Bromwich Albion FC in relation to the conduct/behaviour of one of your supporters on social media (in this instance, Twitter).
Over the past couple of months I have been victim of a targeted harassment campaign by a West Brom fan called Martyn Williams who is from/resides in Tipton. There is history between this person and the club when he took issue with the club’s stance against racism (see attached screenshot named martynwba.jpg) and because I criticised him (he is a former Twitter follower who I blocked) he has held a deep grudge ever since.
He has used numerous Twitter profiles to target not just myself but others too (including creating a fake profile pretending to be me and another fake profile pretending to be ‘Barry Cochrane’ who is another person he fell out and targeted).
Some of the profiles he has used are:
https://twitter.com/Barry__Glitter (renamed from the ‘noncemas’ account shown in some of the screenshots)
https://twitter.com/shabapne (a profile he has replicated from mine).
https://twitter.com/thecochrane77 (a profile he has replicated from another person he has targeted)
https://twitter.com/BertieHastings
The behaviour Martyn is showing is quite frankly disturbing and I have several concerns, particularly since he possesses photo/s of someone else’s child. I have made several reports to Twitter which have all been subsequently ignored. I also reported Martyn to Lancashire Constabulary but they didn’t seem to care as they stated there “isn’t a lot they can do”, despite the evidence presented (including one of racism).
Given the several cases over the past couple of years of abuse (particularly racism) directed at professional footballers, I feel this kind of behaviour continually needs to be highlighted especially given the lack of action from the authorities and social media companies.
I am aware of Stuart Ward from West Midlands Police who has been working hard and helped bring to justice people like Martyn. If you can advise of a way to get in touch with him (other than Twitter) or if you can pass my details onto him to get in touch, I would gratefully appreciate it.
I have CC’d my own club, Preston North End, in this email to make them aware of the ongoing issues, particularly as Martyn is targeting Preston and Preston North End accounts (fans and players mainly) in order to try and smear me and fool them into thinking they are following a genuine PNE/PNE fan account.
As you can see, I’m finding the situation very distressing which has begun to affect my mental health. If you can forward this email to people at the club, I would be very grateful. Whilst action doesn’t seem to be forthcoming, I am trying everything within my power to raise awareness of this situation.
Kind regards,