Police warn online abuse rocketing

Around 1,500 additional crimes linked to online abuse are being reported to Scotland Yard per year and the number looks set to rise, a senior police officer has said.

Deputy Commissioner Craig Mackey told members of the London Assembly that the force has seen a rise in crimes linked to online harassment and bullying.

This follows a number of high-profile cases of "Twitter trolling", where users of the site are bombarded with threats and abuse.

Mr Mackey said: "We're seeing about 1,500 additional offences reported to us per year. I think it will rise as people become more aware of this."

Investigators face difficulties including many social media companies being based in the US, where laws are different; the difficulty of providing legally robust evidence for court cases and trolls using false identities or software to cover their IP address, he said.