A 60-year-old man has admitted sending abusive social media messages to England footballer Jess Carter.

Nigel Dewale despatched the posts to Carter’s TikTok account in the course of the Uefa Girls’s Euro 2025 match final summer time, which defending champions the Lionesses went on to win.

The messages included a derogatory reference to Carter’s race and advised folks with brown pores and skin had been “murderers” and “groomers”.

Dewale, of Nice Harwood in Lancashire, appeared at Blackburn Magistrates’ Court docket on Friday the place he pleaded responsible to sending a malicious message by way of a public communications community between 19 and 23 June final 12 months.

He additionally pleaded responsible to possession of an offensive weapon, specifically an extendable baton, in a non-public place in February.

Magistrates adjourned the case till 25 March for pre-sentence experiences and warned Dewale, of Prospect Avenue, that each one sentencing choices had been open together with jail.

Dewale was granted unconditional bail.

Central defender Carter performs her membership soccer for American aspect Gotham FC within the Nationwide Girls’s Soccer League, having beforehand represented Chelsea and Birmingham Metropolis within the UK.

The 28-year-old, from Warwick, beforehand stated she was stepping away from social media after she was subjected to racist abuse on-line in the course of the match.

Lancashire Police stated the UK Soccer Policing Unit launched an investigation in July and traced the messages to Dewale, who was arrested in August.

Mark Roberts, Chief Constable for Cheshire Police and the nationwide lead for soccer policing, stated: “Dewale’s feedback had been completely abhorrent, they induced emotional misery for Miss Carter and her household and I welcome the responsible plea entered right this moment.

“We now have been clear that hate crime on-line or in individual, isn’t acceptable and as we’ve proven on this case, you can’t conceal behind a social media profile to publish vile feedback and unfold hate.”