Shropshire Star

Telford MP Lucy Allan suspends social media accounts as police investigate her complaint of 'offensive messages'

Telford MP Lucy Allan has "temporarily de-activated" her social media accounts as police confirmed they were investigating a number of "offensive messages".

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Conservative MP Ms Allan became the centre of a social media row after she was accused of doctoring a Facebook post.

It was claimed that she had added the words "unless you die" to the end of a message she had posted on Facebook.

The controversy surrounds an item on Ms Allan's Facebook page where she published a message, attributed to "Rusty, from Dawley", which described her as a "robot" with "no empathy for anyone but your super rich buddies and benefactors".

The post concluded by stating "unless you die".

Conservative MP Ms Allan said that she had published the message to illustrate the abuse that MPs are subjected to.

However, the man responsible for the initial message, writing under the pseudonym Rusty Shackleford, immediately replied to the social media post stating that he had not made the final comment.

Ms Allan has said that she added two separate pieces together when making the post but had not identified the sender because she had not used his surname.

Both posts were later deleted.

West Mercia police has since confirmed it received a complaint claiming a offensive message had been sent and were investigating.

Terri-Anne Powell, spokeswoman for West Mercia Police said: "We can confirm that we received reports on Friday, December 4, at Malinsgate police station of offensive messages being sent.

"The investigation is on-going and we are working closely with the victim but will not comment further on a live investigation."

The Metropolitan Police have also confirmed it is investigating a complaint of harassment made on December 2 but would not say if it concerns Ms Allan.

Following this Ms Allan has announced that she is taking a break from Facebook and Twitter until things become "less heated".

She said: "I have temporarily de-activated my Twitter and Facebook as it was proving a distraction.

"I know residents like to see what their MP is doing and to see that their MP is a real person.

"I hope to put it back up when things are less heated on social media."

It appears she took her pages down on Monday evening after #sackLucyAllan was trending on Twitter, with many users calling for her to resign.

A petition has also been set up asking Prime Minister David Cameron to sack her.

Ms Allan was elected Telford's MP earlier this year when she beat Labour incumbent David Wright.

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