A COMPANY is investigating one of its employees after claims he is a notorious online Twitter troll emerged online.
Some staff and work experience students at Alchemy Recruitment in Braintree went home early last Thursday after receiving death threats as internet alias 'Old Holborn' was alleged to be company employee Robert Ambridge by social media site users from Merseyside.
Old Holborn, who has more than 18,000 'followers' on Twitter, has written offensive messages about the murdered child James Bulger and the Hillsborough stadium disaster for more than a year.
Angry Liverpudlians bombarded the firm with angry phone calls, with some even threatening to burn down the offices in Century Drive.
An Essex Police investigation was soon launched to investigate the tweets, which also relate to the Boston Marathon tragedy.
Alchemy director Jeanette Parradine said staff were greeted by "hundreds of abusive messages" on Thursday morning.
"And these messages go to everyone in the company," she said.
"We have had death threats and I have had concerned Liverpudlians threatening to come down to burn the office down."
She had spoken to Mr Ambridge, who is not at work while the allegations are investigated.
"Most of the day has been spent calming people down," she said. "I'm trying to shield staff which includes three 15-year-old girls on work experience
"We also have a young lad, who's 18 now, here on work experience for a year and a half who took an abusive call.
"He was being absolutely screamed at. We saw him go red and I thought something is going wrong here.
"The people complaining to us seem to condone this mob culture and this behaviour is being targeted at the wrong people – it's just mass hysteria. "We were scared this morning but we haven't had anyone turn up at the door."
Throughout the day, Mrs Parradine got a chance to look at some of Old Holborn's messages.
"Robert was here this morning but he isn't here this afternoon," Mrs Parradine said on Thursday, adding that she did not know when he would return to work.
"It will be investigated, rest assured. It is being dealt with professionally and responsibly. We will deal with it in the right manner," she added.
The firm received death threats into the weekend and arson threats this week.
Old Holborn, who defended his messages online on the grounds of free speech, made numerous comments on the Monday anniversary of the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster, in which 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death.
An Essex Police spokesman said: "Essex Police was contacted shortly after 1pm on Thursday, April 18, by a resident of Southport who was reporting inappropriate and offensive tweets by a man thought to be living in Braintree.
"The tweets relate to the recent terrorist strike in Boston, the Hillsborough disaster and the murder of James Bulger."
The Chronicle visited Mr Ambridge's home address on Thursday night but he refused to comment.
