A BRAVE dad who challenged vile trolls to phone him after they mocked a video of his daughter dancing has received abusive phone calls. Ella Markham, 16, who has Down’s Syndromem was dancing at a Tottenham match when her proud dad Neil shared a sweet clip of her dancing on Twitter. The 43-year-old was left distraught […]
A BRAVE dad who challenged vile trolls to phone him after they mocked a video of his daughter dancing has received abusive phone calls.
Ella Markham, 16, who has Down’s Syndromem was dancing at a Tottenham match when her proud dad Neil shared a sweet clip of her dancing on Twitter.
The 43-year-old was left distraught after he was bombarded with sickening messages – but took matters into his own hands when he challenged the trolls to phone him.
And appearing on This Morning, Neil revealed he suffered nasty calls after the stunt.
“I sat at home on Saturday evening and I was reading one and then another, I showed a couple to my wife – I didn’t show them all to be honest, she didn’t need to see all of them,” he told Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield.
“And then when everyone had gone to bed, I had a few hours to myself and thought, ‘Well how am I going to deal with it?'”
“And I thought the only way I could do is to confront them.”
“Only one person called me. They called me a couple of times, I believe they were linked to one of the people that trolled, if you like,” Neil explained.
“I couldn’t tell you on here what they said.”
Phillip asked: “So they were abusive down the phone?”
“Yes. In a way, I can’t have it both ways, I can’t put my number out there and then moan when people ring me,” Neil reasoned.
“It’s very easy to hide behind fake accounts.
“I wasn’t aggressive about it I was like here is how you’ve made me feel and if you don’t do that again then perhaps we’ve changed something.”
Neil was praised by This Morning viewers as Ella melted their hearts.
“Why are some people so nasty! She’s a beautiful girl and fair play to her dad….” one viewer tweeted.
“You did the right thing Neil and I hope you see this message supporting you. The world will never be rid of cowards like these but the positivity outweighs the negatives I hope for you and your family,” another added.
A third wrote: “What a fantastic dad you are @NeilMarkham1. Never stop dancing Ella you gorgeous girl!”
Yesterday The Sun reported how Ella was dancing at Spurs’ stadium despite her team losing 0-1 to West Ham and was called “a m**g and a r****d” by scorned football fans.
Her proud dad, Neil, posted the heartwarming video with the message: “The result is never the most important thing #COYS.”
But the 43-year-old was left distraught after he was bombarded with sickening messages.
One called Declano – @zelalem_fan – tweeted: “It is the fault of your testicles that your daughter has an extra chromosome, how do you feel?”
He has since deleted his Twitter account.nin
A Liverpool fan called Tom – @lfcxtom – said: “When Mr Tumble takes the kids on a trip out.”
Another Reds supporter called Al – @3AI08 – tweeted: “Pathetic dance moves, no rhythm, literally all over the place. Embarrassing.”
Arsenal fan @sonny_arsenal – said: “Nice to see Harry Kane niece at the game.”
Pathetic dance moves, no rhythm, literally all over the place. Embarrassing.
Twitter troll 'Al'
One fan using the name @DrakelsTheGoat – said: “F**k off r****d, we lost.”
His account has been suspended.
Another – @2Smirnoffices – tweeted: “F**king m**g.”
But proud Neil took on the trolls even handing out his phone number to them so he could talk to them.
Many of the trolls then backed down.
The video has been viewed more than 1.6million times, got 24,000 likes and he has had nearly 8,000 messages in support.
Neil, of Banbury, Oxon – also dad to Danny, 11 and Ryan, 26 – got a message from a first team player offering support.
Tottenham legend Graham Roberts tweeted: “@NeilMarkham1 and his lovely daughter Ella are guests of mine at my gala dinner in May and I can’t wait to spend a special evening with her.”
Another former Spurs favourite Micky Hazard said: “Hey Neil your daughter is a beautiful young lady and that is such a beautiful photo of you both.
“Sometimes people are cruel because they don’t see the beauty but the vast majority do.
“I have a Finale programme signed by the Legends for her, meet me at a game so I can give it to her x.”
Sales director Neil – married to Adele, also 43 – “I was rock bottom on Saturday night and I feel so much better now and it can only be a positive thing.
“My social media life is really about my kids, it’s not really about anything else. My brother lives away and it was a way of keeping him in the loop.
“A lot of people said it was a joke or their account was hacked.
“I’ve had people message me to say that they used to use that word before and they said they will not use it again.
“If one person doesn’t, Ella has made a difference.
“I’m not a snowflake but I will protect my daughter because I’m the only one who can.
“That is my job.
“We’ve had the best part of 9,000 messages and now 99 per cent of them are positive.
“The club have contacted me today. I’m very impressed by their response.”
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