Police make second arrest over online racial abuse of England's Carter

A 59-year-old man was arrested last week for sending abusive messages to the England women’s team defender

A 30-year-old man has become the second person arrested in relation to abusive social media messages sent to England defender Jess Carter during this year's women's European Championship, Cheshire Police said on Thursday.

Last week, a 59-year-old man was arrested and released under investigation while enquiries continue.

"As a result of the investigation, officers from Derbyshire Constabulary arrested a man from Ripley on Tuesday 2 Sept, in relation to some of the messages which were sent to Jess," Cheshire Police said in a statement.

"The 30-year-old was arrested on suspicion of Malicious Communications and has since been released on bail."

During Euro 2025, Carter said she had been the target of online racist abuse in Switzerland and announced that she was stepping away from social media for the duration of the tournament, which England won by beating Spain in the final.

"Nobody should be subjected to such disgusting abuse, and we want to make it clear that racist abuse of this nature will not be tolerated," Cheshire Constabulary Chief Constable Mark Roberts said in a statement.

"Everyone is responsible for what they do and say, and we want to ensure offenders cannot hide behind a social media profile to post vile comments."