EXCLUSIVE: Racist abuse drives Micah Richards to quit Twitter

England's Micah Richards has been forced to shut down his Twitter account because of sickening racist abuse.

Police were called in to investigate after the Manchester City defender was targeted on the social networking site.

Richards has now decided to shut down his account permanently, even though he misses the interaction with City fans.

A source close to the 23-year-old said: “Micah enjoyed the direct communication and banter with fans, particularly the Man City fans.

“In recent months, however, there’s been an increase in racist abuse from a small and depressing minority, and he decided enough was enough.”

It is the latest in a long line of incidents which highlights racist abuse is still a major issue within football.

Twitter has also been used by racists to target players, including Djibril Cisse, Louis Saha, Frazier Campbell and pundit Stan Collymore.

Police investigated the abuse towards Richards in November and it is understood investigations are still ongoing in other cases.

They have also investigated other players suffering racist abuse and arrests have been made.