Lord of the Dance
Dad of Celtic superfan Jay Beatty slams ‘disgusting’ online abuse of his disabled son
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Dad of Celtic superfan Jay Beatty slams ‘disgusting’ online abuse of his disabled son

THE father of Celtic superfan Jay Beatty has slammed a "disgusting" troll who posted a sick comment about his son on social media.

Co. Armagh native Martin Beatty spoke out after receiving a vile message from Twitter user '@BillyFR86' about his 15-year-old son, who has Down's Syndrome.

The sickening tweet read: "Jay Beatty won't see 10 in a row. Scotland's greatest achievement would be taking Jay Beatty to the Forth Road Bridge and lobbing him into the water."

The troll, who purports to be a father-of-two, later added: "I'm not saying he's going to die, I'm just saying Rangers will win the league this season.

"And then he won't ever see it because it would take another 10 years to build it back up and wee Jay will probably be in the mud by the end of 2019."

Sharing the repulsive torrent of abuse on Facebook, Martin wrote: "What type of person even thinks like this... disgusted."

It is the latest in a series of hate-filled sectarian posts on various social networks that the Beatty family have had to deal with over the last 10 years.

Wee Jay shot to stardom after Celtic’s 2014 league championship win when he was picked up by striker Georgios Samaras and carried around the pitch on a lap of honour.

Thankfully, hundreds of well-wishers sent messages of support to the schoolboy in response to his dad's post.

One Rangers fan wrote: "Horrified to read this. There are more important things in life than what team you support. Wishing this on an innocent child who only wants to follow his team with pride is disgusting.

"Jay, you do yourself, your family and the whole football world proud. Keep smiling and keep supporting your team the way you do. From the real Rangers family".

Another person added: "Comments like this are made to get a reaction. Hard as it is, Martin, rise above it. We all love Jay and he has so much more love in his wee heart than all those scumbags put together."

Faced with widespread backlash against his vile tweets, '@BillyFR86' claimed his Twitter account had been hacked before later disappearing from the social network altogether.

Jay, a popular pupil at St Ronan’s College in Lurgan, has been shielded from the abuse and the matter has been reported to Police Scotland.