A Nottingham Forest fan convicted of assault for drunkenly hugging and kissing two children in wild celebrations during a Premier League clash with Arsenal has been banned from watching his team play for three years.
Corey Bills, 21, grabbed hold of the boys, aged 11 and 14, and kissed them on the tops of their heads while in the crowd for Forest’s top of the table match with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium last November
Highbury Corner magistrates court heard Bills, who lives in Loughborough in Leicestershire, did not know the children who were both seated in an area set aside for people with disabilities.
One of the boys has Asperger’s Syndrome, the court heard, and they were left feeling “uncomfortable and shocked” by the incident.
Bills had been permitted to stand in that area because he was sporting an injury to his leg.
“It seems there was a goal that was scored”, said prosecutor Tom Gill. “His reaction to the goal was that he hugs and kisses both of the complainants on the top of the head.
“The boys are 11 and 14 and do have vulnerabilities, they were in the disabled section.”
Bills pleaded guilty to two counts of assault by beating, as well as a charge of being drunk in a sports ground and faced a sentencing hearing last week.
Deputy District Judge Matthew Rowcliffe handed him a 12-month conditional discharge and Bills was spared a fine, compensation to the boys, or costs.
But the judge concluded he should also be banned from Nottingham Forest games for the next three years, after hearing about “intelligence gathered about the defendant's previous behaviour in sports grounds involving alcohol”.
The ban states Bills must report to police, not go within a mile of the City Ground at times when Forest are playing at home, and not travel to away matches.
The previous hearing was told Bills pleaded guilty and said he “didn’t have hostile intent and didn’t intend to cause fear”.
Mr Gill said Bills “ought to have realised hugs and kisses on two vulnerable boys, while not intending any harm, while drunk would have caused them fear.
“That’s the situation – after a goal, he reacted that way, and he was in a section of the ground where there’s people with vulnerabilities.”
Robert Perkins, defending, said Bills was arrested after a report to police by one of the stewards at the Emirates.
He pointed out that CCTV covering the stand showed Bills hi-fiving the boys earlier in the match, as well as patting them in a friendly way on the back.
“He has crossed the line”, he said of the assaults, suggesting it was “friendliness misjudged by alcohol consumption”.
Bills pleaded to two counts of assault by beating and one charge of being drunk in a sports ground.
