Anti-vaxxers serving ‘legal papers’ to Alan Shearer go to wrong address

Protest at property near Newcastle follows video of former England football captain urging people to get Covid booster

Anti-vaccination protesters who attempted to serve spurious legal papers to the former England football captain Alan Shearer delivered the documents to the wrong house, it has emerged.

The former Newcastle United and Blackburn Rovers striker had encouraged people to get a Covid booster jab in a video promoted by the Premier League last week.

His stance prompted anti-vaccination protesters to film themselves on Wednesday outside an address near Newcastle that they believed to be his home.

In the video shared on social media, three men and a woman gathered outside a gated property and after pressing an electronic buzzer, one of them posted documents into an external letterbox.

Anti-vaccination activists routinely share templates of supposed legal documents that they then film themselves depositing.

However, a person who lives locally and saw the footage told the PA news agency: “That’s an old address they have for him.”

In the video, the man who posted the documents says: “Everyone is going to get this, every celebrity, sick of yous. Just causing more trouble for us, lies, all lying.

“That’s the truth in that letterbox there, in Alan Shearer’s fucking house.”

Northumbria police said it had no involvement in the incident.

In response to the video, Shearer’s fellow Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker wrote on Twitter: “Wrong house, wrong cause, all kinds of wrong.”

It is not the first time that anti-vaccine protesters have gone to the wrong location for a demonstration.

In August, a group stormed what they thought was a major BBC building – unaware that the corporation had largely moved out in 2013.

Rather than target the BBC’s news operation, which they held responsible for promoting Covid-19 vaccines, a handful of protesters gained access to Television Centre in west London, which is predominantly rented by ITV.

In October, anti-jab demonstrators targeted the home of the TV and radio presenter Jeremy Vine and tried to serve what it called an “anti-vaxx writ” while he was out, instead handing it over to his wife.

In the same month, protesters gathered for a demonstration at the home of the GP and broadcaster Dr Hilary Jones.

Watch: 20 years on - Roy Keane vs Alan Shearer clash remembered