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Timmy pitch invader gets 6 months!


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Fan detained over pitch invasion

A teenager who invaded the pitch during Celtic's Champions League match against Manchester United earlier this month has been locked up for six months.

John Murphy, 18, of Glenavon Road, Glasgow, was also given a five-year banning order from football grounds - one of the longest imposed in Scotland.

He had admitted invading the pitch at Celtic Park on 5 November.

Uefa fined Celtic £42,000 plus £17,000 that had been suspended following a similar incident last season.

Sentencing Murphy at Glasgow Sheriff Court, Sheriff Linda Ruxton branded his behaviour "dangerous and irresponsible".

"Not only did you create a situation in which there were fears for the safety of the players on the pitch, but you interrupted a high-profile match and created a situation which might easily have provoked serious public disorder," she said.

"Furthermore, you brought Scottish football generally and Celtic Football Club in particular into disrepute and your behaviour caused the club to be fined a substantial amount."

Sheriff Ruxton said she would have detained him for nine months but in view of his guilty plea she reduced it to six months.

She also imposed a football banning order which bars him from attending any regulated football match in the UK or abroad for five years.

"Such a sentence is particularly designed to have a deterrent effect on others who need to appreciate that such behaviour at football matches will not be tolerated by the courts," she said.

Murphy was admonished on a charge of drunkenness.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/scot...est/7742453.stm

Published: 2008/11/21 16:06:08 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

Personally, I think that's a bit harsh. 6 months for walking on a pitch you weren't meant to?

I think she's (the Judge) an angry tim, trying to take it out on him and scare others.

Remember the tim who invaded our pitch? He got a lot less:

Rangers Uefa Cup match protester banned

A pro-Palestinian protester who halted a Rangers football match by running on to the pitch and shouting sectarian abuse was given 200 hours' community service yesterday.

Sean Gallagher, 21, invaded the pitch at Ibrox Stadium during last November's Uefa Cup tie against Israeli side Maccabi Haifa wearing a Palestinian flag around his shoulders and a T-shirt with a picture of the Pope.

He tried to handcuff himself to the goalpost then taunted Rangers fans by shouting an IRA slogan as he was led off.

Gallagher pled guilty to racially aggravated breach of the peace last month and was yesterday fined £400 at Glasgow Sheriff Court and banned from attending any UK football matches and some regulated matches in Europe.

It is the first time a criminal Football Banning Order (FBO) has been granted in Scotland, despite protestations from Gallagher's defence council he is not a football fan and would be unlikely to attend any football matches.

Rangers were fined £4212 by Uefa following the game on November 2 last year. But Sheriff Fiona Tait refused an application to make Gallagher pay compensation to the club, saying it would not be appropriate, given his personal circumstances.

The court was told that Gallagher, a former NHS administration assistant, had lost his job, been subjected to death threats and was forced to leave the country as a result of the pitch invasion. His mother had become ill with stress and had been visited by people threatening violence towards him, the court was told.

Gallagher had staged the protest after travelling to Palestine and being moved by the plight of people there, the court was told. But he later agreed his actions had been "ill-judged and stupid".

Ross Yuill, Gallagher's solicitor, said the pitch invasion was not football related but a politically motivated protest at the situation in Palestine.

He said pressure had been placed on Gallagher by members of the Scottish Palestinian Campaign, which had objected to Rangers playing the Israeli team and had leafleted the match.

But Mick Napier, chairman of the campaign group, told The Herald no-one in the organisation had been aware of Gallagher's plans. "If I had been, I would have discouraged him in the strongest possible terms. It was completely unacceptable," he said.

Delivering sentence yesterday, the sheriff said: "There is no doubt the offence you committed is at the higher end of the range of such offences.

"This gave rise to considerable risk for public disorder and for crowd trouble. That remains the case despite political motivations."

Rangers welcomed the verdict but expressed disappointment Gallagher had not been ordered to pay compensation.

A spokeswoman said: "The actions of the individual during the match against Maccabi Haifa were totally irresponsible and it is right he was convicted and punished in the courts. What is disappointing is that his actions led to Rangers Football Club being fined £4212 by Uefa."

12:01am Friday 15th June 2007

By DAMIEN HENDERSON

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http://www.theherald.co.uk/misc/print.php?artid=1473717

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It's not harsh beacuse remember - he was out on bail for 2 other offences whilst this occured.

Do you know what the the offences are?

BBC news said that he had a conviction for breach of the peace while amongst Rangers fans (I think they said at Celtic Park). I'm not sure if that is one of the ones he is on bail for, or if it was longer ago, though.

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It's not harsh beacuse remember - he was out on bail for 2 other offences whilst this occured.

Do you know what the the offences are?

BBC news said that he had a conviction for breach of the peace while amongst Rangers fans (I think they said at Celtic Park). I'm not sure if that is one of the ones he is on bail for, or if it was longer ago, though.

Cheers.

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The Old Firm match wouldnt be one of his bail offences. I've been lifted twice at Celtic Park and got kicked out 6 hours after the games were finished and court a few months later :lol:

If this is a pissing contest, i've been hoyed out of Pittodrie on my last 4 visits. :D

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The Old Firm match wouldnt be one of his bail offences. I've been lifted twice at Celtic Park and got kicked out 6 hours after the games were finished and court a few months later :lol:

If this is a pissing contest, i've been hoyed out of Pittodrie on my last 4 visits. :D

You win.

I'm not suggesting that others follow my idiocy, merely stating that i am probably not the full shilling. I'm comfortable with my past sporadic dumbness. At no point have i ever claimed not to be an idiot.

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The Old Firm match wouldnt be one of his bail offences. I've been lifted twice at Celtic Park and got kicked out 6 hours after the games were finished and court a few months later :lol:

If this is a pissing contest, i've been hoyed out of Pittodrie on my last 4 visits. :D

You win.

I would say it's a draw. Getting huckled for abusing a tim is worth 2 of the sheep anyday :rolleyes:

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The Old Firm match wouldnt be one of his bail offences. I've been lifted twice at Celtic Park and got kicked out 6 hours after the games were finished and court a few months later :lol:

If this is a pissing contest, i've been hoyed out of Pittodrie on my last 4 visits. :D

You win.

I would say it's a draw. Getting huckled for abusing a tim is worth 2 of the sheep anyday :rolleyes:

:lol:

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