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​Dad Takes On Vile Trolls Who Targeted His Down’s Syndrome Daughter

Ciara Sheppard

Published 
| Last updated 

​Dad Takes On Vile Trolls Who Targeted His Down’s Syndrome Daughter

Featured Image Credit: Triangle News

A father has stood up to vile Twitter trolls who targeted his daughter who has Down's Syndrome, challenging them to phone him up.

Football fan Neil Markham tweeted a clip of his 16-year-old, Ella, dancing at a Tottenham match after the team lost 0-1 to West Ham.

The 43-year-old captioned the innocent video: "The result is never the most important thing #COYS" but the sweet clip was followed by a bombardment of cruel replies on the father-of-three's post.

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One user called Declano - @zelalem_fan - who has since deleted his Twitter account, tweeted: "It is the fault of your testicles that your daughter has an extra chromosome, how do you feel?"

Another, a Liverpool fan called Tom - @lfcxtom - said: "When Mr Tumble takes the kids on a trip out." While another troll 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 (sic) niece at the game."


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Credit: Triangle News
Credit: Triangle News

One fan using the name @DrakelsTheGoat - said: "F**k off retard, we lost." His account has been suspended. Another - @2Smirnoffices - cruelly tweeted: "F**king m**g."

But the proud dad took on the trolls by handing out his phone number so they could call him to talk. Predictably, many of the trolls backed down with some even pretending their accounts had been hacked.

But while there are some disgusting people in this world, there were many comments in support of Neil and Ella. The video has since been viewed more than 1.6million times, got 24,000 likes and had nearly 8,000 messages in support since.

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Neil, also revealed he got a message from Tottenham player Graham Roberts, who 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."

Credit: Triangle News
Credit: Triangle News

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."

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Neil said that while the messages were upsetting, the response of support has been overwhelming.

"I was rock bottom on Saturday night and I feel so much better now and it can only be a positive thing," he said.

"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.

"I'm not a snowflake but I will protect my daughter because I'm the only one who can. That is my job."

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Neil said he has also been contacted by Tottenham Hotspurs and is "very impressed" by the club's response.

Topics: Life News, Football, Real, Real Life

Ciara Sheppard
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