Jackie Doyle-Price complains to police over car cruising troll abuse
An MP has complained to police after internet trolls made "vile threats" to her online.
Jackie Doyle-Price, MP for Thurrock, received a torrent of abuse on the Lakeside Cruising Facebook account following her involvement with a police campaign to tackle car cruising.
She was called a "slag," and one user called for her to be murdered.
The man who runs the account said he was sorry for the abuse and some of the "quite disgusting" comments.
Ms Doyle-Price had gone out with police in January to support them as they carried out a patrol of car cruising at Lakeside.
On her Facebook page, Ms Doyle-Price said the people who met to parade their customised cars were a danger to road users and caused "noise nuisance" to nearby residents.
Her post provoked heated discussion and several sexist comments on Lakeside Cruising, a personal account with almost 4,000 friends.
The MP initially said she would not complain to police following the abuse.
Ms Doyle-Price said: "My intent in going out that evening was to support the police. The last thing I wanted was to give them something else to do.
"However, having taken such a view, it appears this has been taken by some as a green light that this is acceptable behaviour. Such is the violent and unpleasant nature of those threats, I simply must take action. I have therefore referred this matter to the the police."
Ms Doyle-Price said a "strong message" should be sent out about what was acceptable online behaviour.
"Some posters tweet hostile messages about me numerous times a day on a daily basis," she said.
"A number of vile threats have been posted on other (Facebook) pages.
"The truth is that this is online harassment."
BBC Essex contacted the man behind the Lakeside Cruising account, who wished to remain anonymous.
He apologised for what he described as "horrible stuff".
A spokesman for Ms Doyle-Price said she would be meeting with police later this week.