Colchester football yobs given three-year match ban

8:00pm Thursday 26th November 2009

By Lauren Oldershaw

TWO yobs have been banned from football games for three years, after being involved in a number of disorderly or violent incidents on match days.

Ryan Taylor, 25, and Jeffrey Bethell, 27, were said to be part of a group known to police as the Colchester Youth Squad.

Colchester Magistrates’ Court heard they had been involved in a number of incidents on match days, at both home and away games.

Ian Elkins, prosecuting on behalf of the British Transport Police, said Taylor, of Erica Walk, Greenstead, had been involved in incidents between 2006 and August 2009, after which time a banning order had been sought.

He swore and gestured at MK Dons fans during a Colchester United away match, in September 2008, and was also involved in incidents during local derbies, against Ipswich Town and Southend United.

David Howell, representing Taylor, said while his client did not contest the order, and accepted 75 per cent of what was being said about him, he disagreed with some of it.

Mr Howell said: “For example, when it is said he was involved in an incident where some fans were in a first-class carriage, chanting and singing, on the way back from Ipswich. He was with the group before, but did not get on the train.

“He seems to have been swept up in some of the incidents when he was not even there.”

Bethell, of Harwich Road, Colchester, did not attend court, and was handed the ban in his absence.

The court heard he had been spotted on CCTV, goading and swearing at opposition fans during away matches.

On another occasion, he attempted to set up an altercation with rival Leyton Orient supporters, at a Colchester pub.

The orders mean they will be banned from entering any premises where football is being played, in England and Wales, for the next three years.

When Colchester United is playing an away fixture, they must not enter the town where it is taking place, under the rules of the ban.

After the hearing, PC Ryan Whitear, football intelligence officer for Essex Police, said: “We will not tolerate antisocial behaviour, violence, racial chanting, mindless vandalism, or any alcohol-fuelled disorder.”

Efforts to secure a third banning order, for a 17-year-old from Colchester, were adjourned until the new year.