A teenager arrested in relation to allegedly malicious tweets directed at British Olympic diver Tom Daley has been staying at a Weymouth bed and breakfast for eight months, witnesses say.
Police smashed down the 17-year-old's door about 2.45am (BST) on Tuesday, put him in handcuffs and led him away to a waiting police vehicle.
He was arrested on suspicion of posting negative messages to Daley, referencing the diver's dead father.
A fellow guest told AAP the man was quiet and had given the owners no trouble.
"We've seen him walking past us on the stairs," the witness said.
"The owners say he's been there for eight months and hadn't caused him a breath of trouble. He hasn't heard a squeak out of him."
The witness said she heard shouting early on Tuesday morning and was about to open her door to complain when the police warned they were going in.
"The door got smashed in and I heard the sound of the cuffs going on the man's wrists," she said.
"The next minute they were saying they were going to search the room."
Daley's father died of brain cancer a year ago and the 18-year-old Olympian had hoped to win a medal "for myself and my dad."
However, he finished fourth on Monday, out of medal contention, in the 10m synchronised platform with teammate Pete Waterfield.
Dorset Police said the 17-year-old man was arrested "on suspicion of malicious communications" in relation to the Twitter comments.
Meanwhile, British Olympics team leaders revealed they intervened with Twitter to delete offensive messages sent to Daley.
British Olympic Association spokesman Darryl Seibel said "highly offensive and altogether unacceptable tweets" were sent to Daley, after he missed a medal in the 10m synchronised platform competition on Monday with teammate Pete Waterfield.
Seibel said the team "immediately" contacted Twitter's management who removed the messages "very, very quickly."
He says Twitter's "responsiveness to our reaching out was something we appreciated."
BOA chief executive Andy Hunt said 18-year-old Daley "was not affected" by the tweets.
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