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Football fan who bared buttocks handed ban

Allan Sutton, a man with short brown hair. He's wearing a grey t-shirt and holding a jacket, water bottle and sheet of paper.Image source, Craig McGlasson
Image caption,

Allan Sutton has been banned from football grounds for three years

  • Published

A football fan who bared his buttocks and sunbathed on a turnstile roof has been banned from professional football grounds.

Tranmere Rovers supporter Allan Sutton was twice refused entry to Carlisle United's Brunton Park ahead of his team's away match on 31 August.

Sutton left the area, but then returned after the League Two game kicked-off and scaled the turnstile roof, refusing to get down and at one stage pulling his trousers down.

The 41-year-old admitted a public order charge. He was fined £400 at Carlisle Magistrates' Court on Tuesday and handed a three-year football banning order.

Sutton was refused entry for the match ahead of the 1500 BST kick-off, first due to a ticket discrepancy and then again after being abusive to stewards when subject to a search.

He was slurring his speech and swaying, the court heard.

Prosecutor Diane Jackson said: "He continued to be aggressive and abusive, shouting at members of the public as they walked past, including families and children.

"He switched between being abusive, face-timing his friends and sunbathing.

"At 19:30 BST he made a decision to come down from the roof after four-and-a-half hours when he was arrested."

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

The stand-off happened during Carlisle United's match against Tranmere Rovers in August

The court heard Sutton had been jailed for five years in 2015 after breaking into the wrong house in Prenton, Wirral, while drunk and mistakenly attacking a stranger.

Sutton, of Carr Bridge Road, Birkenhead, said: "I'm just disappointed in myself.

"I've watched Tranmere since I was four-years-old. I've never caused trouble at the football before. It's not something I go and do."

The banning order prohibits Sutton from being within a mile of Tranmere's Prenton Park stadium and all other professional football grounds for four hours before and after matches.

The ban is also applied to England national team fixtures.

Lead magistrate Jill Robson told Sutton: "Your behaviour wasted a lot of emergency services workers' time.

"That time could have been needed in a more pressing situation than watching you behave in that way on a roof."

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