Celtic fan jailed for making monkey gestures

Tuesday 17 May 2011
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A Celtic fan who made monkey gestures towards Rangers player El Hadji Diouf during an Old Firm game has been jailed for three months.

Sean Smith, 19, from Spittal, South Lanarkshire, taunted the West African striker as he took a corner kick at Celtic Park on 20 February.

He admitted committing a racially aggravated breach of the peace after being reported by fellow Celtic fans. Smith was also banned from attending football matches for five years.

Sentencing him at Glasgow Sheriff Court, Sheriff Lindsay Wood told Smith he had pleaded guilty to “despicable racist behaviour”.

“You thought you were making a fool of the player but you were actually making a fool of yourself. You have brought shame on the club you support and on Scottish football generally.”

Two Celtic fans have also been jailed for 15 years between them after dousing a fellow Scot in boiling water and beating him with a kettle and table leg.

William Boyle, 43, and Marty Fullerton, 24, battered Alexander MacGillivray until the kettle broke in a drunken revenge attack at his flat in Wood Green, London, last year.

Prosecutor Joanna Staples said: “Mr Boyle started hitting him with the table leg on his arms, legs, side and shoulders.

“Mr Fullerton was holding the kettle in his hand and Mr MacGillivray was able to see steam rising from it. The contents were thrown at him, hitting him on the front.

“He was then hit by Mr Fullerton with the kettle repeatedly until it broke. Mr MacGillivray says that parts of the broken kettle were then used to stab towards his left arm. He then describes the assault continuing with fists.

“He said that at one point Mr Fullerton grabbed the floor lamp, which was weighted at the bottom, and used that to hit him as well.”

Jailing the pair for seven-and-a-half years each, Judge Nicholas Huskinson said: “I view this as a very serious offence. Both defendants were very drunk and had armed themselves beforehand.

“They invaded Mr MacGillivray’s home by breaking down the door, something I view as a serious aggravating factor.”

Boyle, from Edmonton, and Fullerton, from Uxbridge, both admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm in January.

From BBC News and Tottenham and Wood Green Journal

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