Laura Whitmore hits out at trolls following the death of her friend Caroline Flack

TV Presenter Laura Whitmore has paid tribute to her “Vivacious” and “loving” friend Caroline Flack, who was found dead in her London home on Saturday.

Fighting back the tears on her BBC Radio 5 Live show, she appealed to listeners to “be kind” to others and said she wanted to use her platform to “call people out”.

“To paparazzi and tabloids looking for cheap sell, to trolls hiding behind a keyboard – ENOUGH,” she said.

The 40-year-old had been “under huge pressure” since she was accused of assaulting her boyfriend Lewis Burton in December, her management company have said.

Burton, who did not support the ongoing case against Flack, wrote an emotional message to the presenter on Instagram, Sunday morning, promising that he would “be her voice” and would “try to make her proud everyday”.

He concluded: “I love you with all my heart.”

Whitmore, who took over presenting Love Island, when Flack was told step down after her arrest, said her friend “loved to laugh” and had the “most infectious chuckle”.

“I’m not going to pretend she was perfect, but is anyone? She lived every mistake publicly, under the scrutiny of the media.

“Caroline loved to love. That’s all she wanted. Which is why a show like Love Island was important to her, because the show is about finding love, friendship, having a laugh. The problem wasn’t the show. The show… is loving and caring and safe and protected.

“The problem is, the outside world is not. Anyone who has ever compared one woman against another on Twitter, knocked someone because of their appearance, invaded someone else’s privacy, who have made mean, unnecessary comments on an online forum – they need to look at themselves”, she said.

“So to listeners – be kind. Only you are responsible for how you treat others and what you put into the world,” she said.

Other celebrities and ex-Love Island stars have also paid tribute to Flack, describing her death as “heart breaking.”

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Samantha Day

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