Wolves hooligan banned from games
A Wolves hooligan who fought with up to 30 supporters as families leaving Asda near Molineux in Wolverhampton watched in horror has been banned from all football matches for three years.
A Wolves hooligan who fought with up to 30 supporters as families leaving Asda near Molineux in Wolverhampton watched in horror has been banned from all football matches for three years.
Lee Millard, aged 23, of Bilston, was seen on CCTV brawling with around 30 Nottingham Forest fans during the second half of the match, which the visitors lost 5-1.
Millard, who has worked for British Gas, also joined other Wolves fans in a brawl in London's Leicester Square, when Wolves played West Ham in the capital in 2004.
He appeared at Solihull Magistrates Court, when he did not contest a three year ban given to him under Operation Puma, a West Midlands Police blitz on football violence using civil powers to ban yobs from games.
The powers allow police to show their intelligence about a fan to a court to persuade magistrates that a ban is necessary.
Pc David Mapp, from West Midlands Police, said: "Millard was part of the Wolves risk group, an organised football crime group, which attends Wolves home and away matches.
"We are trying to get the message across that this type of behaviour is unacceptable. We have already banned 10 people from this group."
Footage of last August's brawl, which happened during a game, was shown to the court.
The fight took place outside turnstiles at the ground, close to The Feathers pub on Molineux Street.
PC Mapp said: "When you watched the CCTV you could actually see families coming out of Asda in the background when this fight was taking place."
Millard, of Hollywell Street, who admitted in court he had been an idiot, said: "When my ban ends I will go back to football matches but I won't cause any trouble."
In 2006, Millard was jailed for seven months for throwing a bottle in the midst of a mass brawl involving more than a dozen Wolves fans in Leicester Square.
He was given a banning order at the time, which was overturned when top judges ruled the violence was not football related and involved a stag group.
The new ban stops him from entering Wolverhampton city centre three hours before or after a Wolves home match.
He is also banned from using trains when Wolves are playing away and is banned from using the London Underground when his team is in the capital.
Millard is one of several Wolves yobs to be banned from games, following last August's violence involving Nottingham Forest fans.
In January, Steven Noble, aged 47, of Princes Square, in the city centre, was given a five-year ban from matches after he was seen kicking and punching on the footage.
Sgt Chris Austin, from Operation Puma, reckoned the trouble lasted between three and four minutes – which he thought was "quite a long time" compared with other violent incidents linked to football.
