AN internet troll was forced into a humiliating backdown after the professional boxer at the receiving end of his abusive tweets discovered his address and tracked him to his doorstep.
Sickened by scores of tweets mocking him about lost fights, and even his father's death, Curtis Woodhouse, the former footballer who became English light welterweight champion, called the troll's bluff by driving to his home, and tweeting a picture of his street sign.
He gave his 18,000 followers a running commentary of his approach to the house, ignoring increasingly desperate pleas from the young man calling himself "The Master", that he was only joking. "Right Jimbob im here !!!!!," he tweeted, on arrival. "Someone tell me what number he lives at, or do I have to knock on every door #itsshowtime."
Only once he had posted a picture of the street sign on Monday afternoon, did James O'Brien, 24, from Sheffield, admit defeat and tweet his apology: "i am sorry its getting abit out of hand i am in the wrong i accept that," he wrote.
Woodhouse's troll-hunting exploits are being celebrated on the social media website, winning praise from admirers including Lennox Lewis and Lord Prescott, the former Deputy Prime Minister.
"Obviously, there was no way I was going to do anything and I would not advocate violence, as that would make me as bad as him," Woodhouse, 32, said yesterday. "This guy has been tweeting me for two or three months. Having been a footballer, I'm all up for banter and used to getting a little bit of stick, but some things are not acceptable."
He said that previous tweets included taunts mocking the death of his father, Bernard, who died five years ago of a stroke, aged 53, and wishing that he would die in the ring. More posts following the loss of his English title to Shayne Singleton on Friday night, proved "the straw that broke the camel's back".
"I just thought, 'I'm not taking this. If somebody was saying those things to me in the street, I couldn't just walk past'. So I spoke to some people, who know some people, who knew some people, as they say, and tapped his address into my sat-nav. Unfortunately for him, and luckily for me, it was only 47 minutes away. I thought, 'why not, I've got a spare hour'. But the way I was feeling then, I would have driven anywhere in England."
The former Birmingham City and Sheffield United player stopped short of confronting the troll in person. "I know who he is now. [Previously] I wouldn't have even known him if he'd walked by me in the street, and that's how these guys get away with it. He was all big and brave behind his computer, but when he realised I was outside his house, he started squirming. I was going to knock on the door, but I was bent over double laughing. We went away and had a cup of tea instead."
Last year, a student who tweeted racist comments when the footballer Fabrice Muamba collapsed during a match was released after serving half of a 56-day sentence imposed by magistrates in Swansea.
Another youth was arrested, and eventually released from custody with a harassment warning, after accusing Tom Daley, the diver of "letting down" his late father and his country by failing to win a medal in the 10m pairs Olympic diving competition.
As a father of three children, including a nine-year-old son who is beginning to express interest in Facebook, Woodhouse said he felt compelled to take a stand against online bullying.
"With trolling, I think people have had enough," he said. "I hope he has learnt his lesson."
Mr O'Brien declined to comment.
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