Richard Madeley has blasted "sad" online trolls who hound his daughter Chloe Madeley.

The protective dad said: "Chloe and I mentally are quite similar. We both have the same attitude, we don't obviously like trolls, but we don't give a stuff. We don't take what they say seriously. They're sad people. If you think about the kind of person, whose day is made bright by writing this kind of stuff, what kind of background do they have? What do they actually do with the rest of their day? I never feel threatened by them and I don't think Chloe does either."

Chloe - whose mother is Richard's wife and former presenting partner Judy Finnigan - thinks trolls saw her as an easy target because she was the daughter of a celebrity couple.

Speaking before of the "graphic" messages she would get daily from a troll who threatened to "rape" and murder her, she said: "He or she, I don't know which, threatens me with rape, death and pretty much anything you can think of in between. It's very graphic. I don't want the words to come out of my mouth.

"And with this one person, it's never stopped. When it first started it was scary and I worried about my safety. Now, I block it. I don't read the messages. I don't engage."

She added: "Because I'm my parents' daughter, and get attention from things I've done in the past, that probably goes over people's heads.

"People hated me from the start, just for being Richard and Judy's daughter - I'd get s**t."