Man arrested on suspicion of murder after Walsall fan dies in Blackpool

Police have launched a murder investigation and two men from Lancashire have been arrested after the incident, which took place at Central Drive at 5.33pm on Saturday.

Officers were called to reports of people fighting, and upon arrival found 22-year-old Ryan David Harvey with a serious head injury.

He was taken to Royal Preston Hospital for treatment but Ryan never recovered and was pronounced dead on Tuesday morning.

In a tribute, Ryan’s family said: "A family has lost their little boy due to an incident that happened on Saturday in Blackpool.

"Our little Ryan was a bubbly lad who would do anything for anyone.

"Ryan was a lifelong Walsall FC fan who lived and breathed football.

"We are absolutely heartbroken and would appreciate some privacy at this time to grieve for our loss."

Friends and family have shared moving tributes online to the massive Walsall fan, and a GoFundMe page has raised more than £2,000 to help his family pay his funeral costs.

A post mortem concluded that the cause of Ryan’s death was blunt head trauma, with enquiries to establish exactly how Ryan came about his injuries are ongoing.

A 32-year-old man from Fleetwood has been arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in custody.

A 36-year-old man was arrested on Saturday at the scene, Paul Atherton, from Knowsley Crescent, Thornton Cleveleys, has since been charged with Section 18 Wounding, Section 47 Wounding, two Section 39 Assaults and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place.

He appeared before Blackpool magistrates on Monday and was remanded into custody.

Temporary DCI Rach Higson, of the Force Major Investigation Team, said: "This altercation has led to a young man losing his life and my thoughts are very much with Ryan’s family and friends at this time.

"We have a dedicated team of officers assigned to this investigation and we are determined to establish exactly what occurred and identify everybody involved.

"Although we have now made two arrests our enquiries are very much ongoing.

"I would ask anybody with information or CCTV, dashcam or mobile phone footage which could assist our enquiries to come forward as soon as possible.

"This happened on a busy street in the middle of the day where there were lots of people and traffic around."

Anyone with information or footage is asked to email forcecontrolroom@lancashire.police.uk or call 101, quoting log number 1127 of the 25th June.

The GoFundMe page can be found at gofundme.com/f/ryan-harvey.