Former Scotland star Colin Hendry has hit out at an internet troll who mocked the death of his ex-wife.
The Keith-born Rangers and Blackburn Rovers player called the police after seeing the sick message posted on Twitter.
The message, from someone named Liam McDonald on the social networking site, said: “Remember when Colin Hendry’s wife snuffed it? Great times.”
Hendry, 48, posted a picture of the tweet on his own account with the message: “This is the vile world we live in.”
The star’s wife Denise died aged 43 in 2009 after contracting meningitis when bacteria spread from her stomach.
She had endured a seven-year battle with illness after a botched liposuction operation in April 2002.
The mum-of-four underwent 20 operations and died after being on life support for weeks.
The offending tweet, which was sent at 11.33pm on Tuesday, was deleted, and the account itself also appeared to have been removed.
Mr Hendry’s daughter Rheagan, 24, who launched the charity the Denise Hendry Foundation to help people suffering from clinical negligence in her mum’s memory, blasted the troll.
She said: “This is what we deal with all the time and it is disgusting.
“We just want to move on with our lives and we are always reminded about how insensitive people can be.”
Mr Hendry, who now stays in Lytham, Lancashire, had two spells for Blackburn Rovers, from 1987 to 1989 and 1991 to 1998 before moving to Rangers. Nicknamed Braveheart by fans, he also captained Scotland.
Former teammate Kevin Gallacher, who played with him for Rovers and Scotland, said he too had experienced abuse on Twitter.
He said: “When I got involved in Team GB at the Olympics I had abuse on Twitter.
“I had times when every time I wrote something I was getting snide comments.
“But it gets worse when people’s children are involved.”