A Thanet 20-year-old has appeared in court today and denied trolling the mother of tragic murder victim Jamie Bulger on the Internet...on the grounds of insanity”.

Chloe Rebecca Cowan is accused of stalking Jamie’s mother Denise Fergus by posting messages on Twitter which caused her alarm and distress..

Cowan, of Chichester Road, Ramsgate was due to appear by video link earlier this week but was ordered to travel from where she is now living in Reading to Canterbury Crown Court to enter her plea.

She is accused of an offence under Section 4 of the 1997 Protection Of Harassment Act of causing Mrs Fergus “serious alarm” which had “an adverse effect on her usual day-to-day activities” between January and June last year.

She pleaded not guilty but was then prompted by her barrister, Andrew Espley to add: “by reason of insanity.”

Judge Adele Williams then ordered a report to be prepared by a psychiatrist and adjourned the hearing until December.

A trial is expected to be held next year.

The Twitter messages are believed to involve references to the three-year-old who was tortured and killed by two children in Liverpool in February 1993.