An Irish teenager has handed himself into police after Arsenal legend Ian Wright made public horrendous racist abuse sent to him on Instagram.
The 56-year-old, who is now a pundit on Match of the Day, shared screenshots of numerous messages aiming to abuse him.
He was called a 'f***ing monkey', a 'n****r' and a 'cotton picking black c**n' in what looked to be a completely unprovoked attack.
Wright was labelled a 'c**n', a monkey and a 'n****r' during the vile outburst on Instagram
Wright posted this message to Twitter alongside three screenshots of the racist abuse
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On Tuesday evening, Irish police put out a statement that a teenager had since handed himself in.
An official police statement read: 'An Garda Siochana is investigating an incident where abusive/racist comments have been re-posted on social media platforms.
'No formal complaint has been received but an investigation has commenced into the comments in line with our Diversity and Integration Strategy.
Arsenal legend Wright was sent the sick messages on Instagram. The account responsible has now been removed
'A male adult teenager has presented voluntarily at a Garda Station and has been interviewed.
'A file is now being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
'An Garda Siochana are appealing to the public not to engage in social media commentary in relation to this matter.'
Wright posted a tweet on his official account on Monday with three screenshots of abusive messages.
The former England striker tweeted: 'I know I'm not meant to look at them but these messages still hit me so hard man. This is a child!!!'
Wright's post came as ex-Aston Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor revealed he too had been targeted and called a 'n*****' by an Instagram user while his family members including his children were also threatened.
Wright became a legend at Arsenal, scoring 185 goals during his seven years in north London
Match of the Day pundit Wright has spoken out about his previous experiences of racism
Agbonlahor said his account was temporarily shut down while the matter was investigated after he exposed his abuser and described the message as 'the worst thing ever.'
The two latest situations sparked fresh calls for the social media companies to do more to clamp down on racist abuse sent on their platforms.
Wright, who has over two million followers on Twitter and Instagram alone, told radio station No Signal he found the abuse 'dehumanising' and 'humiliating.'
He added: 'There has to be some form of consequence.
'I've got a platform where I can reach people. This is happening to people on a daily basis where they can't do what I did - that's why I had to call this guy out.
'We're dealing with people that need to hide. Platforms like Instagram and Twitter are where they can hide but, what they haven't understood and what that guy will have realised today is, it's not my platform - it's everybody who has come in on him. Something has to be done. He was relentless with it as well. You can't let people get away with it. It's wrong in every way. I don't want this happening to my kids. I'm fighting this one all the way.'
In a statement the PFA called for 'fundamental changes' of policy on social media platforms and accused them of 'continually' avoiding to 'adequately' resolve.
They added: 'We are disgusted to see the racist abuse aimed at Ian Wright and Gabriel Agbonlahor and their families.
Former Aston Villa forward Gabby Agbonlahor has also suffered recent vile online abuse
Agbonlahor revealed that his children were threatened as well in the abuse he received
'At any time, this is abhorrent behaviour, but when people should be coming together more than ever, it is particularly disturbing.
'It is unacceptable for social networks to allow instances like this to go on. With the technology and expertise at their disposal, there simply must be a way to prevent abuse like this from being sent. Anything less than that is not good enough.
'We respect both Ian Wright and Gabriel Agbonlahor's right to address the abuse personally, given that the social media networks continually avoid adequately dealing with the issue. We applaud both former players for their courage in speaking out.
'While social networks have previously assured us that they were working on solutions to address racist abuse and hate speech via their platforms. It seems very little has changed.'
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