Man handed three-year stadium ban for racially abusing Brentford striker Ivan Toney

Toney shared the abuse he received on his Instagram account, sparking a police investigation which found the suspect in Blyth.

Brentford’s Ivan Toney was racially abused in October last year. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

A 24-year-old man has been handed a three-year stadium ban from every stadium in the UK for racially abusing Brentford striker Ivan Toney.

Antonio Neill, who sent the racist message to Toney over social media on October 14 last year, has also been handed a four-month sentence suspended for two years.

Police started an investigation after Toney shared a picture of the abuse, and the message was traced to the 24-year-old Neill, who lives in Blyth, a town in northern England.

Neill appeared in a magistrates’ court in Newcastle on January 25 and pleaded guilty to sending an offensive message.

“If you are going to choose to be vile and abusive to others, doing it from behind a computer screen or on your phone doesn’t mean you’ll get away with it. Far from it,” Northumbria police and crime commissioner Kim McGuinness said in a statement released Tuesday.

The order forbids Neill from attending any regulated football match in Britain and prevents him from traveling abroad to watch international friendlies, qualification matches and tournaments.

Brentford said it hopes sentences for online abuse increase and called on social media companies to remove all hateful content to make their platforms safe for everyone.