Two football hooligans have been banned from watching Manchester City play after attacking Liverpool FC fans ahead of an FA Cup match.
Callum Wright, 25, and Cameron Bradley, 21, were handed the four year ban after being found guilty of violent disorder at two separate Man City games. The pair were caught on CCTV throwing punches and using bottles as weapons to attack Liverpool fans.
Manchester Crown Court also heard that a video circulating on social media shows the men shouting “You f****** Scouse c****” and “Manchester, la la la”, before the City and Liverpool game in the FA Community Shield on August, 4. 2019.
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They were both initially spotted in Manchester, when City played Lyon at the Etihad Stadium on September 19 2018 at a Champions League fixture, the MEN reports. Police responded to reports of chaos at the One Stop Shop, 100 metres from the stadium.
One of the windows was cracked, stock had been thrown around the shop and shopping baskets were strewn in the streets. Boxes were scattered in the road and the store shutters were damaged. Members of the public were also ‘cowering’ behind the shelving, prosecutor Hayley Bennett said.
Months later, on August 4, further violent disorder was caught on CCTV in London, when the men had travelled down to watch City face Liverpool in the Community Shield. Bradley and Wright both arrived and were seen on Great Portland Street as a group of Liverpool fans were making their way to the stadium via the tube.
City fans, including the two men, were looking into the carriages before stepping on. The prosecutor said: "There seemed to be no other reason for the violence apart from the fact these were Liverpool fans...Punches were thrown and bottles were used as a weapon at one stage."
The police were called, at which Bradley became volatile and his actions caused the bones in one officer’s fingers to break. Wright was seen on CCTV entering the carriage and participating in the violence before briefly leaving.
The second time he stepped onto the carriage he had put his hood up to hide from the cameras. He was seen throwing multiple punches. Bradley was spotted walking towards the carriage, before raising his right arm as he moved towards the Liverpool fans.
He had also put his hood up, the court heard. Videos on social media showed him getting involved in the melee and acting in a ‘generally threatening manner’. In a police interview about the London incident, Wright admitted the offence of violent disorder and accepted throwing multiple punches as he was ‘trying to defend a friend’. Bradley said he too got involved in the violence.
Wright was said to have one previous conviction for a similar offence; Bradley had no previous convictions. In brief mitigation for both defendants, Harriet Lavin said they had both remained out of trouble since the incidents in 2018 and 2019. It was said that a Goodyear indication had previously been indicated, in that both men would receive suspended sentences.
Sentencing them, Judge Anthony Cross QC said: "If I was dealing with you years ago I would have sent you to jail, but, it just cannot be in the interests of justice for young men, who have not committed crimes for three years. The best test you can ask anybody is committing no crime. I am prepared not to jail you.
"But you must understand, if you do commit an offence and slip back into your ways of offending, you will be sentenced for this offence, and that offence. I must warn you, if you breach the suspended sentence in any way, I won’t be feeling sorry for you. I will jail you."
Wright, of Broadfield Road, Fallowfield, and Bradley, of Anfield Road, Moston, were both sentenced to three months imprisonment which was suspended for 12 months and 30 days of rehabilitation activity requirements after pleading guilty to violent disorder, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm of a police officer in respect of Bradley They were also made the subject of banning orders for four years.
