More than 40 Facebook accounts have been banned from commenting on Essex Police posts after the force said it received a barrage of “abusive, inappropriate and offensive” comments on an appeal issued earlier today.

Officers had been seeking information after the theft of a Poppy Appeal box from Tesco Express in Purbeck Court, Chelsmford, last week.

The post included CCTV images of two women that police wanted to speak to following the theft, which happened around 4pm on Wednesday, November 1.

But after receiving a large number of abusive comments, the force took the decision to remove the appeal from its Facebook and Twitter pages.

“This post also included a reminder to social media users that while we welcome and encourage people to leave comments, we will take action against those who break our House Rules,” a spokesman said.

“Despite this guidance, a large number of comments were made on our page that could cause alarm and distress to our visitors.

“While we understand that most of our followers respect these rules, we have had to take action against 43 people who have broken our House Rules. “These people have been banned from commenting on any of our Facebook post from today.”

Essex Police said it was still appealing for information about the crime.

People are asked to contact Pc Clive Wilson at Chelmsford police station on 101 quoting crime reference 42/155750/17 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.