footballer

A 60-year-old man has admitted sending abusive social media messages to England footballer Jess Carter.

Nigel Dewale sent the posts to Carter’s TikTok account during the Uefa Women’s Euro 2025 tournament last summer, which defending champions the Lionesses went on to win.

The messages included a derogatory reference to Carter’s race and suggested people with brown skin were “murderers” and “groomers”.

Dewale, of Great Harwood in Lancashire, appeared at Blackburn Magistrates’ Court on Friday where he pleaded guilty to sending a malicious message via a public communications network between 19 and 23 June last year.

He also pleaded guilty to possession of an offensive weapon, namely an extendable baton, in a private place in February.

Magistrates adjourned the case until 25 March for pre-sentence reports and warned Dewale, of Prospect Street, that all sentencing options were open including prison.

Dewale was granted unconditional bail.

Central defender Carter plays her club football for American side Gotham FC in the National Women’s Soccer League, having previously represented Chelsea and Birmingham City in the UK.

The 28-year-old, from Warwick, previously said she was stepping away from social media after she was subjected to racist abuse online during the tournament.

Lancashire Police said the UK Football Policing Unit launched an investigation in July and traced the messages to Dewale, who was arrested in August.

Mark Roberts, Chief Constable for Cheshire Police and the national lead for football policing, said: “Dewale’s comments were totally abhorrent, they caused emotional distress for Miss Carter and her family and I welcome the guilty plea entered today.

“We have been clear that hate crime online or in person, is not acceptable and as we have shown in this case, you cannot hide behind a social media profile to post vile comments and spread hate.”

Married At First Sight star Leisha Lightbody has hinted that she has started dating a premiere league footballer but is keen to keep his identity under wraps as it’s still early days for the pair

Married At First Sight star Leisha Lightbody has shared with fans that she is dating a Premier League footballer, months after her split with show husband Reiss Boyce. The 32-year-old reality TV star had mentioned while on the show that she had been DM’d by a footballer while on the E4 show, but assured Reiss that she had told him she was in a relationship.

But now it looks as though her desire to be a WAG has finally come true. Although Leisha has remained tight-lipped over his identity, a source has said that she is “excited” over her new romance.

Posting a cryptic video on TikTok, followers only saw the shoulder of a man sitting next to her. She captioned the video saying: “Last plot twist of the year.” Now, it’s been claimed that Leisha is dating not just any footballer but a Premier League one.

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A source told The Sun: “Leisha has spent the summer single but feels she’s finally ready to get into another relationship. It’s too early to tell whether this will work out, but she’s hopeful and excited to see what happens.” The added: “Leisha wants to keep his identity under wraps until she knows if it’s the real deal.”

Adding further fuel to the rumours, she tagged her location as Manchester. Explaining why she has chosen to keep her new beau’s identity a secret, she said: “I honestly can’t”. She went on to say: “We love and adore a man who knows what he wants.”

Earlier this month, Leisha was linked to Love Island star Jack Fincham. The pair reportedly shared a kiss at an event. One fan told her: “I really hope you’ve found someone that appreciates your excitement about the future and your intensity about life.”

In response, Leisha said: “Me too. Thank you so much. 2026, let’s pray.” Another fan said: “As long as you’re happy that’s all that matters.” And again Leisha said: “Yes I am happy. Neeeded the summer to be alone but now things are so good.”

Leisha was left devastated when she split with Reiss after the show. At the time of the commitment ceremony, the couple had decided to try to make it work in the outside world.

But after a few months, the pair failed to make it work after Reiss visited Leisha in Scotland, and they got into an argument while out and about. Soon after the split, Leisha claimed she still had unanswered questions.

In a chat with the Mirror: “When we left after final vows, I genuinely thought that we were in this fairytale and thought we were going to watch it back and it was going to be a magical thing, but actually, he didn’t like me as much as I thought.”

She added: “I honestly thought that he really did like me, and I’m not saying he didn’t, but obviously they picked up things that he said on camera that he didn’t necessarily say too much to me.” Leisha said she felt she had mixed feelings about Reiss.

She continued: “I’m not a body, I’m a human being, I’ve got feelings, I’ve got emotions, and I feel like there was just a lot of mixed emotions, and I think looking back, he probably just wasn’t emotionally available!”

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LITTLE MIX’s Perrie Edwards flashed her bare baby bump as she gave a peek into family Christmas with hubby Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

The singer, 32, shared sweet snaps from her Christmas with her footballer Alex, 32, and their son Axel, 4, as the couple prepare to welcome their second child together.

She posted a sprawling message on her Instagram to her 18.6million followers, exposing her huge baby bump as she spoke of feeling “content and blessed”.

Alongside a series of festive snaps and footage, she wrote: “Merry Christmas everyone!

“Excitement pumping through the family, amazing food, Christmas magic on repeat, house is now a pigsty, overstimulated, stayed in pj’s all day”.

Her caption continued: “Axels hair is a birds nest, I’m the size of a beach whale, can’t consume any more chocolate if I tried, need fork lifting off the sofa… but my goodness I feel content and blessed”.

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Among the selection of snaps, Perrie included a sweet video of her son Axel singing to her festive track Christmas Magic, which she released last year.

The singer, who is currently heavily pregnant, received over 500,000 likes on her Instagram post, as friends and fans threw support towards the couple in the comments section.

One wrote: “Axel singing christmas magic no i’ll sob that’s your biggest fan fr he’s giving us all a run for our money“.

Another commented: “My goodness, Axel is the cutest kid ever he’s gonna be the best big brother ever”.

A third added: “Merry Christmas beautiful & to all your family”.

Perrie recently revealed the couple suffered a devastating miscarriage before they had Axel, and lost another baby at 24 weeks in 2022.

Alex also broke his silence on their devastating losses, and said: “When you start a family, that’s when you start to learn it’s not easy to have a child, that things can go wrong.

“It’s so difficult — especially for women when they are literally growing another human being inside them, the connection they feel to that, and then can things go wrong and they can lose the baby.

“And it’s so difficult, especially losing the baby so late into the pregnancy.”

Perrie confirmed she was pregnant again in September, just weeks after opening up about her two miscarriages.

Speaking on the We Need To Talk podcast with Paul C Brunson, she said: “It’s weird, because the first time it happened, I think because it was so early, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s hard’.

“But I think when you’re 24 weeks and you’ve planned out that room and all these things, it’s really hard. And nobody knows other than immediate friends and family.

“I remember shortly after, friends would message and be like, ‘How’s the bump?’ And I’d be like, ‘There is no bump’.”

Perrie was also full of praise for Alex during the interview, saying: “He’s very mature. He’s very laid back. He’s very level-headed.

“He’s not the type to get mad or get angry or get funny about things. It might sound boring to some, but it’s so unproblematic.”