One of the world's most notorious internet trolls, who created an online forum to share sexualised images of underage girls, has been exposed as a middle-aged Texan grandfather who loves cats.

When confronted about his secret double life, Michael Brutsch pleaded with the New York-based blog Gawker not to expose his identity, saying he had a disabled wife and could lose his job.

Michael Brutsch, in an image taken from his Facebook page.

"I just like riling people up in my spare time," he said.

But the 49-year-old, who used the Reddit name Violentacrez (pronounced Violent-Acres) to post vile messages across the internet, said he did not regret any of his online activities, which include creating or moderating Reddit forums called Chokeabitch, Niggerjailbait, Rapebait, Hitler, Jewmerica, Misogyny, Incest.