Andy Bell has quit as vice-president of Carlisle United after the controversy over sick tweets about the Hillsborough disaster.

The businessman today announced he was stepping down from the position, and was also ending his sponsorship of the club.

Bell's decision came three days after insensitive remarks about the 1989 Hillsborough tragedy, where 96 Liverpool fans were unlawfully killed, appeared on the Twitter account of the Bookies.com owner.

Bell claimed his account had been "hacked" but no evidence has yet emerged to support this claim.

Bell issued a statement this morning through the club, after talks with the Blues hierarchy.

He said: “I have made the difficult decision to step down from my role as Vice President of Carlisle United Football Club.

"I have always had the best intentions for the club and it appears that severing ties will help preserve the positive reputation that Carlisle United have forged in the local and wider community.

"When the 2015/16 season finishes, I will no longer sponsor Carlisle United in any commercial capacity, something which has been discussed and agreed with the chairman [Andrew Jenkins].

"However, I will continue to be a Carlisle United fan for the rest of my life and wish them nothing but the best as a supporter.

"I’ve enjoyed sponsoring the club during the past five years, through good times and bad. One of the proudest days of my life was seeing the United team playing with my business emblazoned on the shirt.

"I’d like to thank Andrew Jenkins for giving me an honorary position at Carlisle United FC and for the opportunity to help my local club.

"It’s been a fantastic five years and I look forward to now watching them from the terraces."

On Wednesday Bell said he had asked Twitter to investigate his belief that his account had been sabotaged.

But the social media giant refused to confirm whether such an investigation had taken place.

Nor did Bell respond to questions from the News & Star regarding the timeline of Tuesday night's tweets, or whether he had asked the police to investigate.

Today's statement made no reference to the tweets or the "hacking" claim.

The tweets, on the landmark day an inquest jury ruled the 96 were unlawfully killed, made reference to the Heysel disaster, compensation-chasing disaster victims and the suggestion that it was a "good reason to leave the EU" because human rights laws had helped the families achieve justice.

Bell, who has been a leading sponsor of the League Two club in recent seasons, deleted his account late on Tuesday night, but Twitter's privacy policy would have enabled him to retrieve his user and login data even after his account had been taken down.

United did not add any comment of their own to the statement.