Helen Skelton’s ex Richie Myler sets his Instagram account to private after followers send ‘abusive’ messages

Helen Skelton’s ex-husband Richie Myler has set his Instagram account to private after being sent “abusive messages”.

The Strictly Come Dancing contestant, 39, and the Leeds Rhinos star, 32, who were married for eight years and have three children together, announced their split in April.

Richie has now removed over 600 Instagram followers as he claims that some have been sending him “abusive messages”.

He shared a short statement on his story to explain his decision to the 20,000 followers that he has remaining.

Richie said:  "I’ve decided to put my profile private from now on. If your on here to share my photos or stories of me and my life maliciously to other people, or to waste your time sending me abusive messages please just unfollow me.

"I’m going to start removing people from my account one by one, so if you are genuine rugby fans and I accidentally remove you I apologise in advance and will accept you back!”

Richie moved out of the family home in Yorkshire following his split from Helen and soon announced that he his expecting a child with his new girlfriend Stephanie Thirkill.

He was spotted cuddling Stephanie, who is the daughter of Leeds Rhinos president Andrew Thirkill, at a rugby game earlier this week.

Meanwhile, Helen has been busy competing on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing. She keeps her 370,000 followers updated with public social media posts, such as her attendance at the Pride of Britain Awards on Monday and the Halloween decorations placed outside her family home.

The former Blue Peter presenter recently announced that she has moved back to her parents’ dairy farm in Cumbria, following the split.

She is joined by her three children; Ernie, seven, Louis, five and nine-month-old Elsie.

The mother-of-three and Richie stopped going on dates a year before their marriage ended.