POLICE have arrested a man in connection with homophobic abuse sent on social media to poverty campaigner Jack Monroe.

The food blogger and columnist, from Southend, announced she was quitting Twitter due to “hate and vitriol” she was receiving.

An account claiming to be Alex Wood, a former Ukip election candidate in Somerset, had sent a series of offensive messages to Ms Monroe.

The abuse came after Ms Monroe, 27, wrote a piece for a national newspaper praising the Green Party and criticising Ukip leader Nigel Farage’s “circus act”.

A poster, using the account name @Alex_WoodUKIP, sent a message to the openly gay writer, referring to her “sick form of lesbianism”.

In response to the messages, Ms Monroe said she would stop using the social network.

She wrote: “There's been a lot of kindness & I'm very thankful but the hate/vitriol is suffocating and don't feel this is a safe place to be.”

A spokesman for Ukip said the Alex Wood Twitter account was a fake and condemned the messages as “vile”.

Avon and Somerset Police have arrested a 22-year-old man as they investigate the homophobic messages.

Det Insp Phil Jones said: “We take all reports of hate crime extremely seriously and following our initial enquiries a 22-year-old man is currently in custody for questioning.”