Duncan Bannatyne offers £50k reward for 'breaking arms' of blackmailer

Dragon's Den star offers £50,000 reward for anyone who could 'name and maim' an anonymous Russian tweeter who threatened his daughter

Dragon's Den star offers £50,000 reward for anyone who could 'name and maim' an anonymous Russian tweeter who threatened his daughter. We've become accustomed to his fiery demeanor in Dragon's Den, but yesterday Duncan Bannatyne shocked his Twitter followers by offering a £50,000 reward to anyone who could name and 'break the arms' of a tweeter who threatened his daughter.

The star became involved in an online row after receiving a string of anonymous threats from the social networking site.

Someone using the name Yuri Vasilyev tweeted Bannatyne saying: 'I'm looking for a £35,000 investment to stop us hurting your Hollie Bannatyne. We will bring hurt and pain into your life. We are watching her. She is very attractive. Want photos?'

Scottish Bannatyne responded by posting, 'I offer £25,000 reward for the capture of the coward who calls himself @YuriVasilyev_ Double if his arms are broken first'.

He added: 'I am serious btw [by the way]. I think he is in Moscow.'

Although the self-made millionaire later withdrew his threat, the entrepreneur said 'I'd gladly do my time' to seek revenge on the anonymous tweeter.

The TV star's threats have met mixed reactions from his 372,000 followers.

'Just read it thought it was a bit irresponsible of @DuncanBannatyne. Some nutter will take it seriously,' wrote one follower.

Last night, police released a statement saying, 'Durham Constabulary can confirm Duncan Bannatyne has reported a number of threatening messages he had received via email and Twitter in which threats were made against a member of his family.'

One thing's for sure - this is further confirmation of the phenomenal power of Twitter.

What do you think? Leave your comments below.

FOLLOW MARIE CLAIRE ON TWITTER HERE

CLICK HERE FOR MORE WORLD NEWS