Fabrice Muamba: Jailed Twitter user Liam Stacey's apologises for racist remarks

A student jailed after making racist remarks on Twitter about footballer Fabrice Muamba has apologised and says he has paid a huge price.

Liam Stacey told BBC Wales' Week in Week Out programme about the comments he made and how they turned him into a national hate-figure.

Stacey, from Pontypridd, was served a 56-day prison term for a racially aggravated public order offence.

He said his actions were "just drunken stupidity".

He told the programme, which is broadcast on Tuesday on BBC One Wales, he did not know why he made the remarks on Twitter, adding that it was "stupid, massive, massive mistake and I've paid a big price for it".

"What I struggle to get my head around was the week or two before I was just a normal kid getting on with my work in university, getting on with life, playing rugby with all my mates, then a week or two later I was just going to prison, everything had been turned upside down," he said.

The programme also went undercover to expose how 'internet trolls' - people who carry out anonymous online hate campaigns - target the most vulnerable.

It heard from the mothers of Welsh murder victims Rebecca Aylward and Kirsty Wilkinson whose online memorial sites were attacked by trolls.

Kirsty's mother Catherine Broomfield said: "It's just beyond belief, it just hurts. [I've] already got a big hole in my heart as it is and these people just make the hole deeper."

One 'troll' told the programme attacking others made him feel better.

Week In Week Out also enlisted the help of an unnamed internet expert to set a trap for the 'trolls', and who described them as a "nasty pieces of work", who go out of their way to shock, offend and upset vulnerable people.

Nobody has been prosecuted for making comments about Rebecca Aylward or Kirsty Wilkinson.

However, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service for Wales said reported online crimes are treated exactly the same as offences committed "in the real world".

Jim Brisbane, chief prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service in Wales, said the vast majority of the population enjoyed social media and used it responsibly.

He added: "But there's now an opportunity to make it clear for those who overstep the mark and abuse the privilege of being able to communicate in such a wide way, that the law that applies to other settings and other forms of communication can apply equally to what they're doing, and if that is not recognised then there may be consequences."

Superintendent Joe Ruddy from South Wales Police led the investigation into Stacey's case.

He said: "We in South Wales Police have seen over 100% increase in the number of social networking type occurrences in the last two years and that's probably just tip of the iceberg in what's going on out there."

While Fabrice Muamba continues to recover, Stacey's future remains uncertain.

Swansea University suspended him pending the conclusion of disciplinary proceedings, and is still considering whether to allow him to finish his degree course there.

Week In Week Out is on BBC One Wales on Tuesday at 22:35 BST.