Tim Ireland pays price for years of bullying and hounding.

Twitter is a forum which has the wonderful capacity for bringing together people from all walks of life. The potential is there for Tweeters with deeply opposing views to engage in a civilised argument without descending into abuse and personal insults.

Sadly there is a minority on Twitter who instead use it to hound and harass - ironically they are the same ones who when confronted in real life run away and hide.

One such specimen is Tim Ireland - a blogger who continually whines about the imaginary  threats and insults he has received while freely dishing far worse out to others. During the last fortnight he has "hypothetically" tweeted about raping MP Louise Mensch and shooting Nadine Dorries, another MP, through the brain (see Harry Cole's screen captures here for more: yfrog.com/odch0qhj  and  http://yfrog.com/odvk4qibj  .

What either has done to deserve this kind of vile abuse - aside from having the temerity to have different views than Mr Ireland - no-one knows. His friends - who appear to see his online bullying and stalking as a form of entertainment - will defend him by pointing out that Tim has been targeted by others in the past.

According to Ireland this week Ms Dorries committed the unpardonable sin of - wait for it - speaking about him to other people! This from a woman whose friends and family have to read serial abuse from Ireland and his cronies on a daily basis.

In a rare attempt to justify some disgusting remarks about Foetuses to a female Tweeter he claimed he was going to keep up his tirade against Ms Dorries until she apologised. Oh the irony.

You see Tim Ireland doesn't do apologies. In his world that would be an admission of weakness and is best left to others. He has also built up around him a coterie of online thugs who re tweet his abuse to MPs just so the smears and hate tweets can be spread as widely as possible.

All was going well until TT - who has been the subject of similar sustained attention from Ireland and his cronies - suggested yesterday that it was time to challenge him to back this abuse up in person. 

In typical fashion a suggestion of a face to face discussion - without hiding behind a keyboard - has yielded cries of "Leave Tim alone you bullies" from the likes of Tim Fenton, another blogger who also lies and lies on daily basis. According to Fenton last week married Miss Mensch was having an improper relationship with a blogger who supported her over the abuse - no hint of evidence, just smears is Fenton's forte.

Having spoken to a number of others who have been targeted by Ireland we have decided there is little point indulging his cowardly attacks any further on Twitter. Far better to see him and discuss this properly in person. Ends.