Man jailed for headbutting Sheffield United's Billy Sharp
It happened after the play-off semi-finals on Tuesday
Nottingham Forest season ticket-holder Robert Biggs has been jailed for headbutting Sheffield United captain Billy Sharp.
The 30-year-old fan was jailed for 24 weeks after he pleaded guilty to attacking the striker during a pitch invasion.
Biggs, from Ilkeston in Derbyshire, knocked the striker to the ground whilst celebrating Nottingham Forest's Championship play-off semi-final win on Tuesday.
Biggs admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm which left Sharp requiring four stitches to a wound to his lip.
A 'deliberate and senseless act of violence'
Prosecutor Marianne Connally said the incident was caught by cameras covering the Championship semi-final for live television.
She told the court: “A large number of fans entered the field of play.
“Mr Sharp hadn’t directly participated in the game. He appears to be standing with his hands in his pockets.
“Mr Biggs can be seen to run along the pitch. He then headbutts Mr Sharp.
“The Crown’s case is that this is a deliberate and senseless act of violence.”
Judge says punishment should be jail
Passing sentence on Robert Biggs for assaulting Sheffield United’s Billy Sharp, District Judge Grace Leong told the £55,000-a-year electrical engineer: “The video-clip proves to me that you were running towards Billy Sharp and that you dodged all the other spectators to get towards him.
“I am of the view that it was a targeted act of aggression… even if it was not premeditated.
“The forceful impact resulted in a very unpleasant injury to Mr Sharp.
“You must have seen him fall over but you did not stop to check if he was alright or whether he was seriously injured.
“This is so serious that a custodial sentence must be imposed.”
Forest won the match on penalties and will now play Huddersfield for a place in the Premier League.