Football referee Mark Halsey reveals trolling and death threats left him in tears as he returned to the pitch after overcoming cancer – with online bullies saying they ‘wanted his wife to die’ during her leukaemia battle

• Retired football referee Mark Halsey, 59, spoke of his horrendous online trolling 
• He overcame cancer after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2010
  
• After returning to Premier League in September 2012 suffered barrage of abuse  
• Trolls targeted wife Michelle who was battling leukaemia and young daughter

Mark Halsey has revealed the horrific online trolling and death threats he received which ‘tore him to tears’ as he returned to football career. 

The ex-professional referee, 59, overcame cancer after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2010, returning to officiate at a Liverpool and Manchester United match in September 2012.

After returning to the Premier League, he faced a barrage of abuse, including death threats sent directly to his home, aimed at himself, his young daughter Lucy and his wife Michelle who was battling leukaemia at the time. 

Appearing on Good Morning Britain from his home in Alicante, the father told of the ‘massive mental effect’ the abuse had on his family, with anonymous bullies telling him he ‘wanted his wife to die’ and for Lucy to get cancer.  

Mark Halsey, pictured in 2013, has revealed the horrific online trolling and death threats he received which ‘tore him to tears’ as he returned to football career

Abuse was aimed at himself, his young daughter Lucy and his wife Michelle (pictured with Mark in 2019)  who was battling leukaemia at the time

‘It has a massive effect,’ he said. ‘It wasn’t just me, it was my family. I’d just come out of remission, come back and started refereeing at the top level – which I was told I would never do. 

‘My wife was battling leukaemia and some of the threats that came my way – it’s absolutely despicable. 

‘It has a mental effect, it’s very emotional. My wife was in tears, they wanted my wife to die from leukaemia and my cancer to come back and my young daughter to get cancer and die, that was mild. Some of the horrific things that came my way I can’t say on TV.

In August 2009 Halsey announced he had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumour in his throat. 

Appearing on Good Morning Britain from his home in Alicante, the father told of the ‘massive mental effect’ the abuse had on his family

The news came months after his wife was diagnosed with incurable leukaemia, which Mark announced had returned in 2019.  

Mark said that while Greater Manchester police were ‘fantastic’ while the family were the target of trolling, the ‘horrific things’ the trolls said they wanted to do ‘tore him to tears’. 

 ‘The thing about it, what they wanted to do to my daughter is unimaginable,’ said Mark. 

While he had support of the local police, Mark said Twitter refused to reveal to them who was behind the ‘despicable’ accounts and called for more to be done to get the ‘disease’ of trolling ‘eradicated’.  

Appearing amid a debate about how to control online bullies on the ITV show, Mark opened up about facing barrage of abuse, including death threats sent directly to his home

Mark said that while Greater Manchester police were ‘fantastic’ while the family were the target of trolling, the ‘horrific things’ the trolls said they wanted to do ‘tore him to tears’

‘Greater Manchester police were fantastic. They got in touch with Twitter, I screen-shotted everything that came our way, despite the death threats that came through the post,’ he said, adding that Twitter’s response made his ‘blood boil’.  

‘Twitter would not disclose their accounts even despite the horrific things that would come to my family. 

‘They would not disclose the account holder to the police, they were furious but there was nothing that they [the police] could do.’ 

He added: ‘It’s a disease, it needs to be eradicated.’ 

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