Lily Allen targetted by trolls in Twitter row over the stillbirth of her son

Lily Allen has been taunted by Twitter trolls over the stillbirth of her son and has admitted that she has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

She was targeted while apparently trying to highlight prejudice towards immigrants and Muslims by posting a series of tweets replacing the word "immigrants" or "Muslims" with "pensioners".

A warning: some of the tweets reproduced here contain extremely graphic language.

Some Twitter users suggested the singer had mental health issues.

The 31-year-old tweeted: "I DO have mental health issues.

"Bi-polar, post-natal depression and PTSD.

"Does that make my opinion void?"

She explained that the PTSD came after losing her son six months into her pregnancy in 2010, describing the ordeal by writing: "I lay in a hospital bed with my deceased son stuck between my legs halfway out of my body for 10 hours".

That sparked a string replies, most of them sympathetic but some abusive.

Among the worst tweets, many of which have since been deleted, was one that read: "The baby knew you were going to be such a horrible mother so it decided to go out on its own term(s)".

Another person wrote: "If you didn't pump your body full of drugs you wouldn't have miscarried".

In reply, Allen tweeted: "I didn't miscarry.

"I went into early labour and by son died from his chord wrapped round his neck."

Allen and the baby's father Sam Cooper went on to marry, becoming parents to two daughters Ethel, 5, and four-year-old Marnie, before they split last year and filed for divorce.

The mother of two, whose hits include Smile and The Fear, later announced she was taking a break from Twitter, adding: "My timeline is full of the most disgusting, sexist, misogynistic, racist s***. Really, new levels. I'm no masochist so I'll be back x."

A posting on the pop star's account said it had been taken over by a user calling himself Dennis, who declared he would only communicate in GIFs and was going on "a hate-blocking spree".

Allen gained support from many on Twitter, including writer Caitlin Moran, MP Jess Phillips and editor Stig Abell, who wrote: "Lily Allen has opinions.

"You can agree or disagree with them. But some people on social media instead are unspeakably, unforgiveably awful."