Mary Beard reveals she's received more Twitter threats of death and rape

TV historian Mary Beard today revealed that she had received “several” more threats of death, rape and violence on Twitter in the last 24 hours.

The Cambridge University professor said she had reported all the abuse to police and praised Twitter bosses for their reaction to the problem, saying they had been “very supportive” in recent days.

It came as opinion remained divided over the success of a weekend boycott of the social networking site.

Prof Beard said: “We have got to be absolutely clear that these threats to me and other women - these are criminal threats and all we can do is report them to the police.

“Threatening to kill someone is a crime. It is a job for the police and Twitter.”

Prof Beard is among a number of prominent women on Twitter, including Independent critic Grace Dent and Guardian journalist Hadley Freeman, who have been targeted with bomb threats in recent days.

Columnist Caitlin Moran led a 24-hour boycott of the site yesterday in protest at the abuse and the lack of response from Twitter executives to the problem after journalist Caroline Criado-Perez was targeted with a torrent of rape threats over her campaign to have Jane Austen’s image depicted on the ten pound banknote.

But while many users, including TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp, actress Minnie Driver and columnist Suzanne Moore, also observed the hashtag TwitterSilence Ms Criado-Perez was among those who remained on the site, saying she refused to be “shut up” by the abuse.

She tweeted: “I didn’t think it was silly... I appreciated the solidarity but it wasn’t for me.

“People have the right to protest and react to abuse in whatever way works for them.”

She said that she continued to receive rape and death threats throughout the 24 boycott as well as criticism from some users for not taking part in the silence.

Restaurant critic Giles Coren also criticised Prof Beard for breaking the boycott to tweet about the latest threats she had received while CNN presenter Piers Morgan called the campaign “well-intentioned but pointless.”