This article is from November 17th, so a couple days old, but I found it worthwhile.
To be criminally charged for this is absolutely insane. The fact everyone knows he’s a lowlife and his name is out there is enough.
Yeah for me the world has gone too soft. I don’t see a crime to be honest there worth going to court for. It was utterly stupid and disgusting what he did but I feel like going to court was too far for it.
Let the club ban him and the media report on it but it feels excessive as he’s already lost his job and any future employer will see what he’s done with any background check.
People should be allowed to make mistakes and learn from them, I’m sure he’s not a bad person at all just did a stupid thing and now will pay for the rest of his life.
I’m sure he’s not a bad person
Good people don’t tend to mock children who died from cancer, just saying.
Look at the thread about Grealish yesterday, people saying he’s such a lovable guy yet he drove and wrote his car off while absolutely steaming.
Anyone can make a mistake in the heat of the moment with alcohol involved. Imagine one mistake defining you for the rest of your life. If he’s acknowledged the mistake learned from it and makes him a better person then that’s much more important than villifying him and going to court over such a thing.
I don’t agree with a criminal offence and going to court over the matter.
I feel like you maybe wouldn’t be saying this if you were the kids family.
He got a suspended sentence basically just saying don’t do it again
Not really, a suspended sentence still counts as a prison sentence in terms of his criminal record
Only for 15 months until it becomes spent
It’s a public order offence though? And his sentence was suspended. I don’t get the issue.
tbh I forgot that mascots in soccer are the little kids that walk out with the players, I thought some guy was making fun of a grown man in a glorified furry suit
What a fucking moron.
Basically torn his own world apart for literally no reason at all.
For anyone who can’t click on the link, in doing this utterly fucking stupid thing, he has:
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Been given a 5-year stadium ban.
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Had to pay a £154 victim surcharge.
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Had to pay £85 in prosecution costs.
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12-week suspended prison sentence (suspended for up to 18 months).
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Ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work.
What a fucking moron.
It even says in the article that he’s had to move out of his parents’ home because of the backlash his actions caused, and apparently his relationship with his partner has been affected too.
Can’t believe someone would willingly do something like that anyway, such a stupid and unkind thing to do, and that’s even before you get to how fucking stupid it is to do these days anyway, especially when we live in a world where everything is recorded.
Also lost his job as a window fitter.
And the job after that, was thrown out of his parents’ home and had problems with his partner. According to this article, he seemed remorseful during the court proceedings and afterwards, so hopefully he learned a lesson, and many other onlookers.
Chat shit get banged I guess…
suspended prison sentence for that? 200hrs of unpaid work? lol jesus, thats excessive
What, so you thought it was just harmless bantz?
Justice imo. You don’t mock a child who lost a battle to cancer. No excuses for that. Fucker got what he deserved.
Hope he enjoys the 200 hours unpaid graft too.
It’s not justice though my dude, the punishment doesn’t fit the crime tbh.
Shouldn’t even been a crime for the authorities to prosecute. This was something that should of been settled between the team and him. Ban him from attendance. This is censorship whether we like the results or not.
Freedom of speech doesn’t exist in the UK and it never has. The right to freedom of expression is subject to a range of restrictions in UK law, including the: Malicious Communications Act 1988 and the Communications Act 2003, which criminalises “indecent or grossly offensive” messages and threats.
Reading through the list of consequences, the social consequences were probably a sufficient deterrent. Losing jobs and banned from football matches (the football association being distinct from the government).
Not a fan of governments getting involved in prosecuting speech. I think social sanctions and consequences are more appropriate, even for heinous speech like this.
The odd thing is, what are these social consequences? Getting abuse and threats to the point of moving home is also something that needs acting on, surely. Or are they just deciding who can and can’t have abuse aimed at them?
I mean they probably would act upon it but things like that are extremely easy to do anonymously, compared to being stupid enough to do what this guy did at a football match
I think the fact that he printed something out at home shows it wasn’t a complete spur of the moment thing and that’s why its a bit harsher.
When youre at home whipping up something to make fun of a child of cancer, how does nothing in your brain go off telling you to stop?
The guy is 32, his parents are probably happy to have an excuse to make him move out.
One suspects they’re the problem.
I knew this guy reasonably well at school, although that is a long time ago now he was always a bit of an idiot but I was surprised by this because he should know better than most about how a the death of a child can affect family and friends.
When he was around 15-16 Dale lost his best friend in an awful traffic collision where he was hit by a coach while crossing the dual carriageway outside school. It was fucking awful, it had a huge impact on his friends and family including Dale. So I thought he of all people would know better.
This is a different thing because Dale apparently used a picture of this kid who died with cancer to mock opposing fans, but I will say I do know people whose humor hits different because of histories like that. Like I was watching an event on TV with someone else and a similar story to Bradley Lowery came on - they turned to me and were like “dying of cancer? Jesus Christ, what a pussy.” Which was hilarious in the moment but also because I knew they’d had cancer before and their life was very much disrupted because of the death of someone they loved of cancer when they were a child.
Obviously, the big difference between these two situations is the audience and the intent. I don’t mean to say that Dale wasn’t being a complete dickhead. But sometimes, the more personal it is to someone, the more likely they are to make those comments.
That’s not even the start of the repercussions. Finding work before the conviction is spent, price and availability of things like car insurance. Security clearances. Travel.
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Dickhead move and banworthy from the stadium? Ostracized from the community? Fair. But really? Arrest and sentenced? C’mon UK saying mean things shouldn’t get you locked in a cell. I guess I am just used to American free speech.
I guess I am just used to American free speech.
Give me some scumbag getting a suspended sentence every now and then over women being abused for getting an abortion after being raped.
Imagine being a 32 year old man and doing that. I know being a dickhead isn’t technically a crime and I don’t think he should necessarily be charged with anything, but I’m kinda happy he’s being shamed like this.
Should have given the cunt a swift kick to the face and made sure his community service is spent on children’s cancer wards. The cunt.
Suppose that’s a fair cop but the wider question is how do you stop an idiot being an idiot?
It’s disgraceful that he’s been rewarded with a stadium ban. Surely being forced to watch Wednesday every week would be a severe deterrent.
Heard and seen way worse in COD lobbies back in the day.
Except he wasn’t in CDD lobbies, he was on the terraces next to the away fans laughing with a picture of a dead child who was well known for supporting Sunderland.
Yeah, which is vile, granted. Not sure what the actual *crime* here is though given you’d be hard pushed to find somebody that hasn’t made/laughed at a 9/11 joke, AIDS joke, cancer joke, dead celebrity joke, Jimmy Saville jokes, in their lifetime.
Difference is none of that was televised.
……televised next to the away fans. Like 9/11jokes in the NY Fire Department, AIDS/cancer joke to a dying victim and their family, Saville joke to one of his victims? Plus there is no ‘joke’ here, just an attempt to cause as much crass offence as possible. Context.
Context is important of course. But if somebody who had some form of cancer went and saw Frankie Boyle Live at the Apollo, I highly doubt Frankie is getting arrested when the member of the audience finds it offensive.
Baffles me that people pick and choose what’s offensive when it suits.
I’ve seen the same people crying about cancer jokes, sit and make 9/11 and rape jokes. It’s either all allowed to be joked about or none of it is.
Criminalising speech is such a regrettable thing that it should only be done in the most extreme circumstances. This does not meet the threshold for me.
Glad Wednesday have dished out a considerable ban though.
Alcoholic human garbage
Vile
Not surprising, there’s zero room in the prisons at the minute. Stuff like this will never end up with you behind bars.
It’s disgusting that this is deemed a criminal offence. He’s a moron, but what he did shouldn’t have been against the law.
The ‘disgusting’ thing here isn’t his sentence.
he’s a massive cunt but that sentence is ridiculous.
literally can get the same sentence for burglary.
Honestly shocked more people aren’t saying this. Totally being over punished.
I don’t understand how being an asshole can be a crime. He will have enough social consequences. Feels like an overstep of justice.