Police investigate Leight Griffiths tweet

11 January 2013 14:48

Police in Edinburgh say they will look into claims that Hibernian's on-loan striker Leigh Griffiths sent a racist tweet.

The Scotland international allegedly told a man to "f*** off back to your own country ya clown" during an angry online exchange.

The 22-year-old, who is on loan at Hibs from npower Championship side Wolves, posted the comment to almost 13,000 followers late on Thursday night and has subsequently been removed from his Twitter page. Now Lothian and Borders Police have confirmed they have carried out early enquiries after they were made aware of Griffiths' alleged comments.

A spokesman said: "We have been made aware of this matter, and we are carrying out initial enquiries."

Griffiths was responding to a tweet from a Twitter user believed to be based in Livingston, West Lothian. The user had earlier sent a tweet to Griffiths. It said: "@LeighG29 @jordan_cosgrove thumb boy why do you make fun of other peoples looks when you are the worst out the lot?"

Griffiths later insisted he was not a racist, posting: "Got to apologise to @zak_iqbal for my comment earlier, was out of order!"

On Friday morning, he also wrote: "I'm not a racist! Yes what I said was out of order! People going to give it a rest now?? Jesus Christ."

Griffiths is currently on loan at Easter Road but is due to return to Molineux following the Edinburgh club's game with Dundee on January 19. He has scored 14 goals for Hibs this term and boss Pat Fenlon is keen to keep him for the remainder of the season, but a club spokesman confirmed that Hibs would be taking action against the former Livingston and Dundee forward.

He said: "Hibernian FC today confirmed that it had spoken to player Leigh Griffiths about exchanges on a social media website. The player had realised that despite the provocation, the language he used was totally unacceptable and had already apologised for what he said. The player has closed access to the account.

"The player supports the club and the whole of Scottish football in its stance against racism, bigotry and anti-social behaviour. The player will be subject to a disciplinary process which will be a private matter between the club and the player."

Source: PA