Newport County fans locked up and banned from matches for six years after attacking Leyton Orient fans in pub
Wednesday 16th March 2016
Newport Crown Court
FOOTBALL fans “fuelled by bravado and alcohol” who stormed into a Newport pub last summer to confront rival supporters were locked up.
Keiron Chadwick, aged 20, of Lliswerry Park Drive; his brother Marcus Chadwick, aged 21, also of Lliswerry Park Drive; Andrew White, aged 21, of Park View Gardens, and Byron Whittaker, aged 20, of Lyndon Way, went into the John Wallace Linton on Cambrian Road on August 22, ahead of a Newport County home game.
They were in the pub for four minutes from about 1.30pm to confront opposition Leyton Orient fans, who had been sharing it peacefully with others, including elderly people and children. From 3pm County and Orient played a League Two match at Rodney Parade.
Keiron Chadwick was caught on CCTV throwing a chair and a table; Whittaker was shown confronting Orient fans with clenched fists, White gestured at them and Marcus Chadwick joined in shouting insults.
Keiron Chadwick will serve eight months in a young offender institution. His brother was handed the same term but will serve that in jail.
White and Whittaker were sentenced to six months in a young offender institution.
All of them have been banned from attending any professional football match, whether in the UK or abroad, for six years.
The Wetherspoons pub they had disrupted had to be closed until 3.15pm on August 22 to clear mess and damaged furniture.
A Newport man unknown to the group had to visit the city's Royal Gwent Hospital after he sustained two black eyes.
Newport Crown Court heard he saw the gang enter the pub "in a wave".
Recorder Timothy Brennan QC acknowledged the yobs had "certainly marched in with a purposeful air" and that “the incident was clearly fuelled by bravado and alcohol”.
He added: “While each played his own part this was a joint enterprise. I have no doubt immediate custody is justified for these offences.”
Of the four, only White had no previous convictions. All four said they were sorry for their part in the incident.
White and the Chadwicks had admitted a charge of affray at the earliest opportunity at Newport Magistrates' Court on November 22, 2015. Whittaker pleaded guilty to the same charge at his first Crown Court appearance relating to the offence in Cardiff on January 7.
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