Carl Frampton says 'UVF' death threat down to 'some idiot'

BOXER Carl Frampton has said a death threat posted on Facebook warning that he and his family would be murdered was "probably a young lad being stupid".

Mr Frampton's wife Christine received a private message saying "You and your kid's (sic) and Carl are getting murdered by the U.V.F so ****ing watch!"

The 29-year-old mother-of-two shared a screenshot of the threat to her 12,000 followers on Twitter, accompanied with the words: "Lovely message I got on Facebook. How do I find out who this person is because the profile seems to have disappeared?"

This prompted support from followers and fans of her husband.

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Speaking to the BBC today, Mr Frampton, who hails from the Tiger's Bay area of Belfast, said: "You have to take these things seriously. But I think it was some clown, probably someone pretty young siting in his mum's front box room, thinking he's a hard man.

"People think they can say what they want on social media. But it's not a serious death threat I don't think. It's just some idiot, probably a young lad just being stupid."

Mr Frampton said he did not report the post to the police because he thinks it was "just some idiot".

"People shouldn't say these thngs. Just because it's social media you can't talk about people's kids and talk about murdering them and their family - it's just not on.

"We did take it serious, it was annoying, but we didn't go to the cops because we know it was just just some idiot."

"I retweeted it and then I took the retweet down because I hoped that someone would know who this guy was and maybe have a word with him and just say, 'wise up, you can't be doing this sort of stuff'."

A PSNI spokesman said police did not comment on individual cases.

The incident is the second high-profile social media incident involving Carl Frampton, after the former world champion pugilist dealt a knockout blow to Twitter troll Craig Flanaghan.

He wrote that he would "never again" support Mr Frampton after the boxer was pictured wearing an Antrim GAA jersey.

Mr Frampton replied with an image of a personalised hurling stick, writing: "Hey boy, anymore talk like that and you'll get this around the coupon."