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FA Cup: Man sentenced for attacking Nottingham Forest players
A man has pleaded guilty to attacking three Nottingham Forest players during their FA Cup win over Leicester City.
Cameron Toner, 19, assaulted Brennan Johnson, Keinan Davis and Djed Spence during the game on 6 February.
At Nottingham Magistrates’ Court, he admitted three counts of common assault and going on to a playing area at a football match.
Toner, from Leicestershire, was sentenced to four months in a young offenders institution.
The assaults happened at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground as the home side celebrated their third goal in the 4-1 win.
The Leicester City fan, of Station Street, Whetstone, was also banned from attending football matches for 10 years, fined £100 and ordered to pay a £128 victim surcharge and £85 costs.
The court heard Toner had been drinking since 11:00 GMT that day and had consumed four pints as well as a cocktail of vodka and Southern Comfort before heading to the ground.
When the apprentice carpenter ran on the pitch he was seen jumping on the players, and throwing punches at them while they were celebrating.
Passing sentence, district judge Leo Pyle said: “You evaded a steward, jumped the barrier, ran down the side of the penalty area in a determined attack on Forest players.
“In my view, it was cowardly.
“Initially they [the players] were unable to defend themselves and what you solely created was an outrage which could have easily caused disorder.
"More than 29,000 fans behaved themselves, you did not. You turned a moment of euphoria into a disgraceful spectacle."
He said the players were “entitled to feel safe in their place of work”.
One player had been left “with a headache” but the other two were uninjured, he added.
Reading a statement made by Forest winger Brennan Johnson, prosecutor Sanjay Jerath said: “Whilst I was celebrating, I thought a Forest fan was joining us but I soon realised it was not the case.
“He tried to punch my teammate Keinan Davis. He swung his left fist which connected with [his] jaw.
“He pushed me to the chest area of my body. Soon after he pushed me, he was escorted away from the group and out of the ground.”
Moving on to the police statement given by Keinan Davis, Mr Jerath told the court Mr Davis saw Toner had “clenched fists” and was “throwing punches”.
“I saw him throw a punch towards my face and hit my right ear,” the statement read.
He added he continued to play football until half-time but as he walked to the changing room, he felt pain to his head as a result of the punch.
The court heard Toner had no previous convictions and his solicitor Kally Sahota said he felt “embarrassed” by his actions, and how he apologised to the players, both clubs and the fans.
Toner has also been given a lifetime ban from Leicester City, the court was told.
Arrests at football matches across the top five English leagues are at their highest levels in years, with fan disorder “getting worse”, according to the UK’s football policing lead.
There were more than 800 football-related arrests in the first six months of the season and more than 750 reported incidents of disorder.
On Sunday, Manchester United’s Anthony Elanga was struck by an objectthrown from the crowd in his side’s Premier League victory at Leeds United.
Original article published 24.02.2022 on the BBC News website
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