Football fan who mocked cancer victim Bradley Lowery banned for five years

Dale Houghton held up a picture of Sunderland mascot Bradley Lowery during Wednesday's 3-0 defeat in September

Dale Houghton, Bradley Lowery (insert)
Author: Liam ArrowsmithPublished 17th Nov 2023

A football fan who mocked cancer victim Bradley Lowery during Sheffield Wednesday's defeat to Sunderland in September has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Dale Houghton, 32, held up a picture of Bradley, who died in 2017, on his phone during the match at Hillsborough.

Houghton, from Rotherham, admitted a public order offence at a previous hearing and, on Friday, he was given a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, and was ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work by District Judge Marcus Waite.

Mr Waite said: "You showed callous disrespect to a brave young man who was righty held in the highest esteem by football fans everywhere."

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