Barrow football yob banned from every ground
Last updated at 11:24, Tuesday, 14 July 2009
A SOCCER yob has been given a Football Banning Order.
Barrow AFC fan Andrew Leitch, 29, has been banned from every football ground in England and Wales for three years.
Leitch, who has followed the Bluebirds since he was 10-years-old, was on trial at Furness Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
His ban follows repeated warnings from police and Barrow AFC officials over his behaviour at matches, both before and after Barrow returned to Conference football last season.
This makes Leitch the second Barrow fan to receive the order from Furness Magistrates. Brett Cihlar, 37, received a three-year ban last September.
Leitch denied a section five public order offence following disorder at Barrow’s home game against Wrexham on Boxing Day. An injury-time equaliser from the visitors prompted Leitch to direct abuse towards Wrexham fans.
PC Matthew Knott and PC Ian Stables, of Cumbria Constabulary’s task force, gave evidence for the prosecution. The officers saw Leitch run towards the Cross Bar end of Holker Street where away fans were stood, segregated from AFC fans by a metal fence. Leitch proceeded to shout and swear in the direction of Wrexham fans.
PC Knott said: “When Wrexham scored he left the position he was stood at and came towards me and my colleague stood at the corner of the Ray Wilkie stand and Cross Bar. He was using intimidating and
aggressive behaviour.
“I told him to calm down on a number of occasions. He then said: ‘What are you going to do about it?”
Mr Ian Huggan, defending, said that by ‘it’ Leitch was referring to Wrexham fans who had come on to the pitch following the goal. He also argued that spectators at a football game
expect swearing and shouting between fans. Leitch was arrested and escorted out of the ground following the incident.
Detective Constable Craig Barrass, of Barrow police’s Area Intelligence Unit, was working at Holker Street on Boxing Day. He saw Leitch in handcuffs as he left the ground.
DC Barrass told the court: “I know Mr Leitch from working at the football. I saw him in the car park behind the Cross Bar. He was handcuffed and he shouted and swore at me aggressively.”
Leitch, appearing in the witness box for the defence, said: “I probably swore at him (DC Barrass).”
Bad character evidence based on Leitch’s behaviour at Barrow home games against Workington and Farsley Celtic was presented to the court.
The prosecution also referred to Barrow’s play-off semi-final against Telford United in the 2007-8 season, during which Leitch was ejected from Telford’s ground, and DVD footage was played showing Leitch in an exchange with police officers outside the Riverside Stadium following the Bluebirds’ FA Cup clash against Middlesbrough in January.
Mr Huggan, defending, said: “Mr Leitch was not arrested on any of these occasions, only at the Wrexham game. He has been following Barrow since the age of 10 and has been involved with sponsoring matches.”
Leitch, of Gatacre Street, Barrow was found guilty of the public order offence. The prosecution then applied for a banning order to be imposed, which magistrates granted. He was also fined £150, ordered to pay £275 in court costs and a victim surcharge of £15.
Speaking after the trial, DC Barrass said: “Barrow police in conjunction with the UK Football Policing Unit are determined to work together to combat disorder at Barrow AFC games. This court result shows that the courts take such disorder seriously and any person involved in such incidents at Barrow AFC games could be liable to a three year football banning order such as Andrew Leitch’s.”
First published at 11:15, Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk
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Hear Hear Mark Mckeever. Well said!
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With regards the swearing at football. Fair enough families attend and some may be offended by the use of foul language.
A man is twice over the legal alcohol limit whilst driving and is banned from driving for 18 months. A man swears at football is banned from every ground in England and Wales for 3 years. Essentially the courts are saying that swearing is worse than drink driving.However, why do these people not make complaints about the use of such language by the players.
Holker St, in particular, is very close to the pitch and you can hear the players swearing all game.
In addition I would presume that those offended by swearing do not watch television after the 9pm watershed.
If your offended by swearing then don't go to football because you will hear it from fans,players and managers.
Posted by Barrow Fan on 16 July 2009 at 11:28