A FOOTBALLER who joked about killing illegal immigrants has been given a talking-to by police – but no criminal charges will be laid against him.

Officers from Gloucestershire police yesterday arrested Lee Smith, the 28-year-old Worcester City Football Club right winger on suspicion of a public order offence, but he was released after being given “strong words of advice”, said officers.

It followed comments he made on the internet using his Twitter social media account which sparked a row, with some claiming he was racist and others defending his right to an opinion.

The post which sparked the row, on November 11 – Armistice Day –- read: “Respect to all the heroes 11/11/11 now to all the illegal *****, **** off out of are country all Call of Duty could become a reality – kill um.” Mr Smith said the comment, which makes reference to a popular video game, and other comments which followed were “banter” and meant between friends.

He told the Worcester News he was “no racist” saying “a lot of my friends are black” and adding he had meant no offence.

The comments were deleted a short while after speaking to the newspaper.

After an investigation into the comments, Mr Smith of Tuffley, in Gloucester, was detained by police.

Chief Inspector Derek Jones said: “The individual involved has been spoken to by officers about the content of his ‘tweets’ and given strong words of advice about his behaviour.

"The Twitter account has since been removed and no further police action will be taken against the man.”

Colin Layland, club vice chairman, said: “Worcester City FC will take into account the decision of Gloucestershire police when we finalise our own internal investigation. That will be finalised this week.”

My Layland said he could not comment further on whether Mr Smith would return to training this week until the board had finished their own internal probe.

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