Newcastle United striker Papiss Cisse and his girlfriend Rachelle Graham were alleged to have been racially abused by online trolls.

The Senegal international's other half, who is the current Miss Newcastle, took part in a skydive to help raise money for Cisse's charity, which is aiming to provide better medical care in his native country.

"At first the messages came from a US website which targets white people who are going out with black people," The Mirror quotes Graham as saying. "The person behind that may also have set up the fake Twitter account in my name.

"It was made to look as much like mine as possible, using my photos and virtually the same address. The first I knew of it was when I started to get messages from friends responding to tweets I had not sent.

"This person was sending out abuse and saying I was no longer with Papiss, and would use racist terms. I am totally sickened by it. I cannot believe someone that would do this."

Police are thought to be investigating the alleged abuse as a hate crime.