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Three plead guilty to Sol Campbell abuse
20 Jan 2009Three men pleaded guilty today to indecent chanting at a football match.
A total of 11 men, including three juveniles, have appeared at Portsmouth Magistrates' Court for alleged racist and homophobic chanting.
The charges relate to chants made at Portsmouth Football Club defender Sol Campbell during a match against Tottenham Hotspur at Fratton Park, Portsmouth, on September 28 last year.
Richard Gibbs, 36, of Wokingham, Berkshire, Stuart Turner, 34, of Wellington, Telford, Shropshire, and Oliver Sylvester, 28, of Southampton, all pleaded guilty to indecent chanting.
Dean Nelson, 23, of Enfield, north London, Joe Turner, 18, of Basildon, Essex, and Bradley Barnes, 35, of Bournemouth, Dorset, have pleaded not guilty to the charge of indecent chanting.
The court heard that indecent chants directed towards Campbell included: "Sol, Sol, wherever you may be, Not long now until lunacy, We won't give a **** if you are hanging from a tree, You are a Judas **** with HIV".
Other chants at the game were the repetition of the words "Gay boy" and "You can stick Sol Campbell up your arse".
The court heard that not all of the defendants sang all of the chants, but variations of them.
A fourth defendant, Keith Stevens, 54, of Hailsham, East Sussex, also pleaded guilty to indecent chanting.
Ian Trow, 48, of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, Michael Eleftheriou, 15, of Winchmore Hill, north London, Huseyin Mehmet, also 15, of Purley, Surrey, and a 13-year-old boy from near Milton Keynes have pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Magistrate Susan Waddle did not impose reporting restrictions on the two 15-year-old boys, stating that they had behaved like adults and should be treated as adults, but she did impose reporting restrictions on the 13-year-old because of his young age.
A trial date for the defendants who pleaded not guilty was set for May 13 at the same court.
