A petition launched by Katie Price to make online abuse a criminal offence has smashed the 100,000 signature target needed for it to be debated in Parliament.

The 38-year-old glamour model and mum-of-five decided to take action after son Harvey, 14, started to receive cruel online messages from anonymous users.

Harvey, who suffers from Prader-Willi syndrome, has also become the focus of nasty online memes, many of which have been shared by Katie on her Instagram page.

Currently sitting at almost 160,000 signatures, the TV personality described in the petition how trolling is “a major problem in this day and age.”

She added: “People of all ages and background suffer every day, including my family - especially my son Harvey.

“I have tried my best to expose people and even had two arrested but nothing was done and there were no repercussions or penalties for this behaviour.

“This does not affect just high profile people it affects everyone from every walk of life from young children, teenagers, people at work, husbands and wives.

“This abuse includes racism, homophobia, body shaming and a whole range of other hate speech.”

She highlighted how the issues behind the petition are “important and topical,” adding: “I want it to help bring justice to everyone who has ever suffered at the hands of trolls.”

Making a final plea to the public, she said: “Help me to hammer home worldwide that bullying is unacceptable whether it’s face to face or in an online space.”

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According to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), it is difficult to tell how many young people exactly are affected by online abuse, either because they don’t tell anyone because they feel ashamed or guilty, may not know who to tell, or may not even realise they are being abused.

However, the charity did add how more than 11,000 counselling sessions with young people who talked to Childline about online issues were held last year alone.