Police close investigation into racist abuse of Liverpool players with offenders based outside UK

The investigation has been ongoing since April

Merseyside Police have closed their investigation into the online racist abuse of Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold and Naby Keita as the Instagram users responsible for the abusive messages were found to be based outside of the UK. Keita was sent monkey emojis after he posted a photo on Instagram following the Reds' Champions League defeat to Real Madrid earlier this year, while Alexander-Arnold received the same racist abuse on a picture he posted on Easter Sunday. As well as the police, Facebook - owners of Instagram - told Sky Sports News that it was also investigating the issue. However, Merseyside Police confirmed on Thursday that they were unable to take action against the offenders because they were not based in this country. A spokesman for Merseyside Police said: "Following a full investigation, all the offenders were identified from their social media accounts but all were based abroad so no further action was therefore taken." The abusive comments, which were removed by Instagram, were reported to the police after they were first spotted. [caption id="attachment_292739" align="alignnone" width="2048"] Both Naby Keita and Trent Alexander-Arnold were racially abused on Instagram in April. (Photo by Oli Scarff - Pool/Getty Images)[/caption] The news comes a day after a man who posted a video to Facebook in which he racially abused Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka following England's Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy on penalties was handed a suspended prison sentence. Bradford Pretty, 50, was sentenced to 50 days in prison which has been suspended for 12 months. He was also ordered to complete 200 hours' of unpaid work at Folkestone Magistrates' Court on Wednesday where he admitted that he sent a message that was 'grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character'. Both Alexander-Arnold (muscle) and Keita (foot) are currently out injured, with the pair expected to return to action within the next couple of weeks. Related links:

• Man who racially abused England trio after Euro 2020 final avoids jail time
• Giorgio Chiellini ‘ashamed’ of Fiorentina fans’ racist abuse of Napoli players
• West Brom fan who racially abused Romaine Sawyers sentenced to eight weeks in prison