Matt Lucas vows to leave Twitter over suicide joke

Lucas and McGee divorced in 2008 less than two years of marriage

Little Britain star Matt Lucas has said he plans to leave Twitter after a user apparently joked about the death of his former partner.

After seeing the post Lucas replied, "Shame on you" and told the user he had been "really upset" by the tweet.

He later thanked his 567,000 followers for their support but said he had decided to leave the messaging service.

Lucas's former civil partner, Kevin McGee, took his own life in 2009 less than a year after the couple's divorce.

He was found dead in his Edinburgh flat at the age of 32.

"I'm not joking. I think you should delete that tweet. It really upset me," Lucas told the user, whose account has now disappeared from the site.

In another posting on Saturday he said: "I'm disappointed that @oOfuscoOo thinks jokes about the suicide of my former partner are funny.

"I appreciate all the support on here over the past couple of years but it's time to shut down my Twitter account. Xx"

Matt Lucas's Twitter account is still open but there have been no new tweets since 25 February.