Port Talbot man is arrested over offensive tweet to diver Tom Daley

A PORT Talbot man, believed to be footballer Daniel Thomas, has been arrested in connection with a homophobic tweet sent to Olympic diver Tom Daley.

Port Talbot Town midfielder Thomas was suspended by the club earlier this week after a message, sent via the social media site, was addressed to Daley, following his first appearance at the London 2012 Games.

Now South Wales Police have arrested a man, thought to be the player, and released him on police bail pending further enquiries.

A spokesman for the police said: "South Wales Police has arrested a 28-year-old man from the Port Talbot area in connection with offensive comments made on the social networking site Twitter.

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"The man was interviewed at Neath police station and has been released on police bail pending further enquiries."

Daley, 18, and his dive partner Peter Waterfield, finished fourth in the 10m synchronised dive on Monday.

An offensive tweet later appeared from the 10DanThomas10 account, which Thomas has claimed was posted by someone else.

The club quickly apologised for the message and have suspended Thomas while an investigation is carried out.

Following the incident a club spokesman said: "Port Talbot Town Football Club were made aware of an offensive comment appearing on the Twitter feed of one of our players.

"Upon being informed of the matter, we immediately distanced ourselves from any offensive messages while investigating the matter further.

"Having spoken at length to the player in question, we believe that he regrettably left his phone unattended and was the victim of a very misguided 'prank'.

"The player issued an immediate apology for the comments which appeared on his Twitter feed and has since deleted his account.

"Both the player and club wish to apologise unreservedly to those offended and in no way condone such views."

In a separate incident a 17-year-old was arrested and given a harassment warning in connection with another tweet which was sent to the diver.

robert.goodman@swwmedia.co.uk