Halsey the subject of Twitter abuse

Referee Mark Halsey was the victim of Twitter abuse following the Barclays Premier League fixture between Liverpool and Manchester United yesterday.

Halsey, who was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2009 but returned to refereeing in March 2010, sent off Liverpool midfielder Jonjo Shelvey for a challenge on United defender Jonny Evans and awarded a late penalty to United which Robin van Persie converted to seal a 2-1 win.

A tweet posted from an account namedjohnwareing1 read: “I hope Mark Halsey gets cancer again and dies” while another fromlfcjohn259 read: “Mark Halsey should’ve died of cancer.”

Both tweets were met with outrage from other users of the social media site.

The post fromlfcjohn259 was deleted and thejohnwareing1 account was removed completely.

The Premier League were not immediately available for comment on the matter.

Ref Mark Halsey (in cancer remission) been wished to die by trolls. So too has his wife Michelle (also in remission) and their daughter.WTF

— Geoff Shreeves (@GeoffShreeves) September 23, 2012