British police on Sunday arrested a 21-year-old man over a series of abusive tweets, including one threatening rape, to the campaigner who fought for author Jane Austen to appear on banknotes. Metropolitan Police confirmed they had arrested the man in Manchester, north west England, "on suspicion of harassment offences." Caroline Criado-Perez was bombarded with abusive messages after successfully lobbying for the "Pride and Prejudice" author to replace Charles Darwin on Britain's £10 notes from 2017.
She said the abusive tweets began to appear on Wednesday, the day the Bank of England (BoE) announced its decision. Police said officers in Camden, London, received an allegation of "malicious communications" after Criado-Perez reported she had received "about 50 abusive tweets an hour for about 12 hours".