AN INTERNET troll accused of directing online abuse at the parents of Madeleine McCann has been found dead in a hotel room.

Brenda Leyland, who was recently unmasked as one of the trolls posting hateful messages about the McCanns, was discovered on Saturday after fleeing her home.

A Leicestershire Police spokeswoman confirmed officers had been called to a hotel in Enderby and said the death was not being treated as suspicious.

On Thursday, Mrs Leyland, 63, of Burton Overy, was exposed by Sky News reporter Martin Brunt as being one of the people behind an online campaign of abuse.

Using the Twitter handle @sweepyface, she posted dozens of messages to Kate and Gerry McCann, including one saying that they should suffer "for the rest of their miserable lives".

Mr Brunt confronted her about her online activities outside her home, asking why she had used her Twitter account to attack the family, who live with their younger children, nine-year-old twins, in Rothley, Leicestershire.

She replied: "I'm entitled to do that."

During the exchange, which was caught on camera, the crime correspondent told her she had been reported to the police and that Scotland Yard was considering a dossier of Twitter accounts said to show a "campaign of abuse" against the McCanns.

Mrs Leyland paused before replying: "That's fair enough."

Mr Brunt was later invited into her home where she told him she "had questions for the McCanns" but "hoped she hadn't broken the law" by posting tweets spreading rumours about the couple's marriage and saying she hoped they would suffer forever.

Reports later suggested that Mrs Leyland had left her home, with a neighbour saying that she had "fled the village" following the encounter with Sky News.

The neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: "Somebody took a photo of her on Thursday afternoon and then she was gone. I haven't seen her since."

Another local added: "While I wouldn't condone what Brenda is accused of doing, I am worried for her safety now she has apparently fled the village."

Following Thursday's report, Gerry McCann, originally from Glasgow, said he had not read Mrs Leyland's tweets but had "grave concerns" about posts made online about him and his family.

"Clearly something needs to be done about the abuse on the internet," he said. "I think we probably need more people charged.

"I've got grave concerns about our children as they grow up and start to access the internet in an unsupervised capacity.

"There have been other instances where people are threatening to kidnap our children. People are threatening violence against Kate and myself.

"Of course it's not just us - it is many other people who happen to find themselves in rather tragic circumstances."

Other messages directed at the McCanns from internet users include: "These 2 should burn in hell", "I will supply the petrol", "I'll supply the lighter - happily".

Others wrote: "We need some numbers for some assassins on taps", "I hope that the McCanns are living in total misery" and "I want to see them smashed up the back of a bus or trampled by horses".

Confirming Mrs Leyland's death, a Leicestershire Police spokeswoman said: "Police were called at 1.42pm on Saturday 4 October to reports of a body of a woman in a hotel room in Smith Way, Grove Park. Officers have attended the scene and a file is being prepared for the coroner."