Micah Richards Leaves Twitter 'Following Racial Abuse'

Micah Richards has left twitter following racist abuse from members of the social networking site, according to reports on Saturday.

The Manchester City defender has shut down his twitter accout @officialMR2.

A source close to Richards told the Mirror: “In recent months, however, there’s been an increase in racist abuse from a small and depressing minority, and he decided enough was enough.”

Police are investigating some of the tweets sent to the 23-year-old striker, a Man City spokesperson told the BBC.

Cyprus international footballer Tom Richards called for the site to have a "proper registration process" in response to the news.

In December Stan Collymore, the former footballer turned pundit, used his Twitter account to highlight the problem of racism, amid an ongoing row about the issue in football.

Collymore, who played for Nottingham Forest, Liverpool and Aston Villa, added racially abusive tweets to his favourite list on the social network.