A VICIOUS-tongued cyber bully who taunted boxer Curtis Woodhouse over his defeat in an Englsih title bout was left quaking in his boots - when the angry fighter threatened to track him down and turn up on his doorstep.
The story of “jimmybrownpants” unfolded live on the social networking site Twitter and flashed around the world, and the actions of Mr Woodhouse won praise from a welter of celebrities - including deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, World Champion boxer Lennox Lewis and footballers Andrew Cole, Joey Barton and Robbie Fowler.
Mr Woodhouse, 32, had suffered a torrent of offensive personal abuse on Twitter from an internet “troll” calling himself The Master, after his defeat to Shayne Singleton in the English light-welterweight title on Friday.
Tweets called for him to retire immediately and branded him a complete disgrace and said: “Haha, you lost you silly mug, fight a 10-year-old next time if you want to actually win”.
The Driffield-born former footballer turned fighter decided that enough was enough and responded by offering his thousands of Twitter followers £1,000 for anyone who could provide an address or photograph of the person who was “trolling” him – a term used when internet posts become insulting.
He then posted a tweet claiming he had got an address - and even posted a photograph of the street where the Master was said to live.
The Master - later named by the national press as James O’Brien, 24 - quickly responded by apologising profusely and claiming that the matter had got out of hand and he said: “Chill out pal, I was only doing it so you would bite back.”
After saying he had stood on his street waiting for the man to emerge, Woodhouse Tweeted: “He never came out to play so I’m going back home. It was maybe a bit daft what I did today but sometimes enough is enough.”
In an exclusive interview with Driffield Times & Post sports editor Andy Stabler, Mr Woodhouse said: “This guy had been tweeting me for a good few months now, just abusing me at every opportunity he gets, and everyone gets to a point where enough is enough, and I am not going to take this anymore.
“So I took matters into my own hands.
“I don’t advocate doing anything like that, but you know you have to make a stand against these people, because you can’t just put anything on Twitter you want, and think that you can get away with it.
“You wouldn’t say that to someone in the street - if you did you would probably end up getting locked up or being put in prison for six months.
“But these twitter trolls think that they are untouchable.
Mr Woodhouse said: “It took me about three minutes to find out his name, his address, where he worked and even what football team he plays for on a Sunday. I got them via a friend who knows someone, who knows someone who knows someone.
“So these trolls which think they are untouchable. Like Jimmy Brown Pants yesterday, we can get to them whenever we want.
“Its nice to get one back over them.
“And it’s not just me, also the likes of Katie Price, and he even sent Lennox Lewis a tweet, saying he was going to batter him - and for him to be squirming like that yesterday, well.
As the story broke, thousands of people began to follow Mr Woodhouse on Twitter.
The former English Light Welter Weight champion said his phone had been ringing constantly for two days constant, with all sorts of people trying to get in touch.
box outs .....
curtis woodhouse @woodhousecurtis: “Just had a call from somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody and @jimmyob88 has asked what he can do to make me go away! #boxing.”
John Prescott @johnprescott said: “THIS is how we deal with things in Hull. Boxer @WoodhouseCurtis tracks down a Twitter troll to his street.”
Joseph Barton @Joey7Barton: “@woodhousecurtis brilliant mate. Your my hero. Wish someone had a hidden camera in his room right now. He’d be flapping..#keyboardwarrior”