A TEENAGER with convictions for causing trouble at Swindon Town games says a Twitter account spewing racist and obscene comments is nothing to do with him.

The 16-year-old, who has been warned by magistrates to curb his behaviour, defended himself after the latest in a series of sick messages was posted on the feed.

The status update, which was subsequently taken down, read: “Down town the lights are flashing we are going p*** bashing.”

The Twitter account features pictures of the teenager and posts including sick jokes and messages glamourising football violence. The account had been in the teenager’s name but the surname was changed several months ago.

The youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: “The Twitter account isn’t mine any more. It’s two different people. I haven’t posted anything on there. I think one of my friends has hacked in and taken it over.

“I went on there and the password has been changed.

“ I did used to post a lot of horrible stuff on Facebook a while back but I’ve changed and now my account is only open to close friends.”

The youth had a restriction imposed by Swindon magistrates in September 2011 to stop him from yelling abuse at Swindon Town games after he pleaded guilty to a public order offence.

The Crown Prosecution Service had applied for a football banning order, but magistrates decided to impose a six-month referral order to the youth offending team and ordered him to pay £85 costs . He had also been reprimanded by the Metropolitan Police in April 2011 after he punched a steward at a game.

It emerged at the hearing that the boy had obsessive compulsive disorder and was having psychiatric treatment for post-traumatic stress, as well as suffering from Tourettes Syndrome.

His mother said : “Football is important to him and it gives him a self-confidence he doesn’t have at home.”A spokesman for Twitter said: “We can't comment on individual accounts or users.

“We have clearly stated rules and terms of service that outline what is and isn’t acceptable on the platform. We don't moderate content, but review all reports of tweets that may violate our rules and terms of service on a case-by-case basis.”