The change has already been dubbed Chloe's Law after Justice Secretary Chris Grayling made reference to the case of Chloe Madeley (pictured)

Internet trolls who subject victims to vile abuse are to be jailed for up to two years under a tough Government crackdown.

Harsher sentences are to be introduced following a series of shocking, high-profile cases, including rape threats made against model Chloe Madeley last week.

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling revealed to The Mail on Sunday that the maximum six month sentence for internet abuse will be quadrupled.

Miss Madeley, who was targeted after her mother Judy Finnigan made controversial remarks about the footballer and convicted rapist Ched Evans, last night welcomed the move, saying that the most sickening comments amounted to ‘online terrorism’.

The tougher new legislation is already being dubbed ‘Chloe’s Law’ after her public stance against the disturbing messages.

Mr Grayling said: ‘These internet trolls are cowards who are poisoning our national life.

‘No one would permit such venom in person, so there should be no place for it on social media. That is why we are determined to quadruple the current six-month sentence.

‘As the terrible case of Chloe Madeley showed last week, people are being abused online in the most crude and degrading fashion.

‘This is a law to combat cruelty – and marks our determination to take a stand against a baying cyber-mob. We must send out a clear message: if you troll you risk being behind bars for two years.’

Currently, offenders who subject their victims to sexually offensive, verbally abusive or threatening material on the internet can only be prosecuted in magistrates courts under the Malicious Communications Act, which carries a maximum prison sentence of six months.

But the planned changes will allow magistrates to pass on serious cases to the crown courts, where offenders would face a maximum sentence of 24 months.

Miss Madeley, 27, was targeted with what she described as ‘extremely chilling and cowardly’ threats after she defended her mother for suggesting on a TV panel show that Mr Evans’s offence was less serious because he had not physically harmed the teenager he attacked.

Last night Miss Madeley said it was right for Mr Grayling to update the ten-year-old law, since it pre-dates Twitter.

She told The Mail on Sunday: ‘The current law obviously needs to be reviewed. It needs to be accepted that physical threats should not fall under the “freedom of speech” umbrella.

'It should be seen as online terrorism and it should be illegal.’

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The change comes after model Chloe Madeley, daughter of TV presenters Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan (right) received rape threats on Twitter

The 27-year-old was abused online after her mother Judy Finnigan made comments on the case of Ched Evans during an episode of Loose Women

BUT SICK SOCCER FANS CHANT: 'SUPER CHED, HE CAN DO WHAT HE WANTS' Sheffield United fans chanted their support for Ched Evans yesterday after he was released from prison having served half his sentence for rape. Some sections of the United supporters chanted: ‘Super Ched, Super Ched. He can do what he wants’ as the League One team visited Bradford. The fans’ show of support follows reports Evans was to be offered a two-year £500,000 contract by his former club – although United insist they have made no such decision. Judy Finnigan’s comments on Evans’s case led to the trolling of her daughter Chloe. Sky Sports News presenter Charlie Webster said she would quit her role as a ‘patron’ of Sheffield United if the club were to re-sign Evans. Webster told Radio 5 Live: ‘You will have young people cheering him on when he scores a goal. Not under my name.’ West Ham vice-chairman and Apprentice star Karren Brady agreed, saying there is ‘no place anywhere in football’ for Evans. Former Welsh international Evans, 25, was released last week after serving half of a five-year sentence for raping a 19-year-old woman. Advertisement

Her remarks come after her father, TV presenter Richard Madeley, warned the trolls: ‘Prosecution awaits you.’

The changes will be made as an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill currently going through Parliament.

They would also give the police more time to collect enough evidence to enable successful prosecutions to be brought.

Earlier this month, 63-year-old Brenda Leyland, who subjected the family of missing Madeleine McCann to online abuse, was found dead in a hotel after being confronted outside her home by a Sky News reporter.

Mrs Leyland was one of a number of trolls who compounded Gerry and Kate McCann’s distress by abusing them on social media.

One tweet read: ‘#mccann To Kate and Gerry, you will be hated by millions for the rest of your miserable, evil, conniving lives, have a nice day!’

Mr McCann commented at the time: ‘Clearly something needs to be done about the abuse on the internet. I think we probably need more people charged.’

Miss Madeley explained last week why she had gone public with the threats, saying: ‘I always ignore the disgusting troll tweets I get because I honestly do not want to give them any attention.

Kate and Gerry McCann have been abused on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook over the disappearance of their daughter in 2007

‘But the tweet in question took it to another level and I wanted to stand up against it.

‘There is a line where rationality ends and criminality begins. The person who threatened me crossed that line.’

Dr Az Hakeem, consultant psychiatrist at The Priory Hospital, Roehampton, south-west London, told The Mail on Sunday: 'The sadistic pleasure derived by trolling may have an addictive quality to it and the sense of power for the troll may be difficult to resist.

'The most useful intervention is to be reminded that the emotional pain inflicted is real and that they are not able to hide behind apparent anonymity, and to be held legally accountable for the actions for which they have mental capacity and intend to make.'

He said that the illusion of anonymity 'facilitates for some callous and wounding attacks upon people which for the Intranet troll provides sadistic pleasure combined with the false reassurance that the attack is 'not really real' due to the lack of real face to face contact of the 'hit and run' style of encounter, often hidden behind the camouflage of the screen name.'