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Fresh controversy over the Twitter account belonging to teenager Jack Sullivan erupted tonight.

Hammers fans posting across the web on forums such as KUMB.com tonight almost universally condemned a message posted on the Twitter feed attributed to the son of co-owner David Sullivan regarding Gent striker Ilombe Mboyo.

The Buffalos current captain was one of several teenagers convicted of gang rape in his native Belgium a decade ago when he was just 16. The victim was a 14-year-old schoolgirl.

Sullivan - or (hopefully) someone else with access to his social network account - posed the question: "How would you feel if we signed Mboyo of Gent? Terrible crime when he was 16, can he ever be forgiven? What do you think?"

Whilst some believed the tweet related to the potential signing of Queens Park Rangers' Loic Remy, who is himself set to appear in court on a similar charge later this year, others took it more literally believing that fans were being canvassed over the possibility of signing the 26-year-old.

However almost all were in agreement that raising the subject of violent sexual crime on a Twitter account belonging to a 13-year-old schoolboy was an appalling error of judgment.

Whilst KUMB member badgers1 insisted that "his [Jack Sullivan's] Twitter account always was an accident waiting to happen", fellow member Aztec Hammer maintained that what was originally a good way to communicate with the fans had been soured.

"I enjoyed the tweets early on when they were simple and letting us know what was going on," he said, before admitting: "but now it's getting silly."

Meanwhile DaveWHU1964 was rather more scathing of those who sanctioned the posting of the message on young Jack's account.

"There are so many issues regarding this, but one I haven't seen mentioned is the dubiousness of getting a 13-year-old child to conduct a poll about accepting a man who raped a child," he argued.

"I don't think things can get too much more messed up than that. There are those out there who genuinely do not seem to realise the difference between right and wrong - and we've seen a sick and surreal example of that tonight."

The tweet was also condemned by journalist Hugh Southon, who raged: "This has gone too far. Total embarrassment. How many deals are being screwed up by that account? Forget ITK stuff. Just wrong!"

Sullivan's original message was followed up an hour later by a second tweet regarding the Gent striker. "99 per cent of you have said no to Mboyo," it read. "I’ll pass it onto my Dad. I’m sure we won’t sign him. We respect your views."



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