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Gang that planned train riot face jail
Justin Davenport05.12.08
A gang of football thugs who attacked rival fans on a train in a pre-planned "mass riot" are facing jail today.
The five men are the last members of a group of 15 Crystal Palace supporters who kicked, punched and head-butted Charlton Athletic opponents.
Children and pensioners cowered in fear as the gang rampaged through a train at Sydenham station attacking random groups of fans in September last year.
A month later the men were arrested by British Transport Police in a series of dawn raids across south London, Sussex and Kent.
The five men appeared at Southwark crown court charged with violent disorder. One pleaded guilty and four were convicted. An earlier hearing heard how members of the public tried to escape the gang, who attacked in a co-ordinated "pincer movement" before the Championship game.
Among those who were cornered was a father and his two grown-up children. One of his sons suffered a suspected fractured nose and was left with blood pouring down his face.
The CCTV footage of the riot which helped convict the gang showed parents trying to shield their children and drinks flung across the carriage.
Det Insp Keith Bennett of the transport police said the train contained Charlton Athletic supporters travelling to a game at Crystal Palace as well as ordinary members of the public including women, children and the elderly.
He said: "Several passengers were head-butted, punched and verbally abused during the fracas." Eleven men pleaded guilty and four went to trial after being charged with violent disorder.
Those already sentenced have been given prison terms of between 24 and 40 months for what the judge described as "mob conduct at its worst".
They have also been issued football banning orders, preventing them from attending matches or travelling by train for up to ten years on match days.
Det Insp Bennett said the sentences and bans should serve as a warning to hooligans that violence and disorder on the railways will not be tolerated.
He said: "Members of the travelling public, including law-abiding football fans, have the right to travel in safety on match days. Mick Everett, Charlton Athletic Football Club's operation director, said: "There is no place in football, nor indeed society, for violent individuals such as these."
The men found guilty were Ashley White, 21, of Purley, Carl Thomas, 40, of Thornton Heath, Clive Taylor, 35, of Thornton Heath and Darren Bush, 39, of South Norwood.
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