Lily Allen hit with abuse over Twitter complaint

Pop star Lily Allen has been subjected to a barrage of abuse on Twitter.com after she demanded army bosses discipline a soldier over a message he sent her on the microblogging website.

The Smile hitmaker retweeted a message from a man named Harry Wilson that read, "All the best with your new family just seen you bought s**t I mean adopted a child from Africa" on Tuesday, alleging it was racist.

When she realised Wilson is in the British Army, she contacted military bosses on the site and asked them to take action, writing, "Do you condone (these) racist comments? He needs disciplining."

On Wednesday it emerged armed forces chiefs have launched a probe into the incident, prompting dozens of Twitter users to send abusive messages to Allen.

One user wrote, "Harry (has) been told the top dogs in the army want him discharged!... hope ur (you're) f**kin happy ya coke head b**tard", another added, "have you taken the hint that no one likes you and that your accusation is outrageous? Hope harry sue's (sic) you for every penny!", and a third branded Allen a "piece of low life scum".

Allen, who is reportedly pregnant, retweeted the messages so her followers could read them, adding, "Just a few examples of the drivel I'm being subjected to for reporting that guy yesterday."

When another user suggested Wilson's message was innocent but its meaning had been lost through a lack of punctuation, the singer wrote, "It's out of my hands now, all I did was report abuse... (it's) his fault for mis-writing (sic) more like! IF that's the case, and if it is, then I'm sure his superiors will understand."

Wilson's account on Twitter has been shut down in the wake of the scandal.