Yahoo News Racist footy fan who made 'disgusting' online slurs slapped with three year banning order
A racist footy fan who made ‘deeply offensive and disgusting’ comments online has been slapped with a three year banning order.
Ryan Hurst made the abusive slurs following a Hartlepool United FC match against Crawley Town on April 22, last year. The 26-year-old was charged with sending by public communication network an offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing message.
The Hartlepool man appeared at Teesside Magistrates’ Court on April 16 and received a three-year banning order for the racially motivated comments. He pleaded guilty to racially aggravated malicious communications.
READ MORE: Armed police drama as two arrested after gardening tool mistaken for rifle
READ MORE: Airline pulls out of Teesside Airport as route is scrapped
Hurst, of Dunbar Road, was also slapped with a £586 fine and surcharge of £234, court documents show. Whilst no formal complaint was made regarding the matter, Cleveland Police says it worked closely with the Crown Prosecution Service to bring the case to court and convict Hurst.
Rebecca Slade, Senior Crown Prosecutor with CPS North East, said: “The comments made by Hurst in the wake of this match were deeply offensive and disgusting. Abuse of this type will not be tolerated and wherever offensive content is reported, and our legal tests are met, we will work closely with police partners to bring offenders to justice. In cases where such abuse is found to be a hate crime, the Crown Prosecution Service will also seek an uplift in the sentence for the offence from the court.”
Sergeant Dave Lester, of Cleveland Police Football Operations Unit as part of the Matrix team, said: “The Football Operations Unit is determined to bring those people to justice who think it’s acceptable to make comments of a nature which is distressing to others, on social media or otherwise, at sporting events. Those people will be put before the courts and will face banning orders and criminal convictions. We take all incidents of this nature extremely seriously and will endeavour to take action wherever possible.”
Go here for the latest crime news from across Teesside
