BANNED: Football fan cannot go to Stoke City and England matches for three years
Stoke City fan, 25, has 'caused or contributed to violence or disorder' for five years
Sentinel Reporter
Stoke City troublemaker David Gregory has been banned from going to any of the club's matches for the next three years.
Staffordshire Police secured the football banning order after a court ruled the 25-year-old 'caused or contributed to violence or disorder' between 2012 and 2017.
The order means Gregory cannot:
Go to the bet365 Stadium, Trentham Lakes or Stoke town centre for three hours before a home match, during the game, and for three hours after the final whistle;
Go within five miles of the football ground where Stoke City are playing away on a match-day;
Go to England matches home and away.
Now police are warning more Stoke City and Port Vale fans may be hit with similar bans ahead of this year's World Cup in Russia.
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The bet365 Stadium, home to Stoke City Football Club.
Gregory, of Allen Street, Hartshill, did not contest the making of the football banning order when he appeared at North Staffordshire Justice Centre yesterday. The court heard he intends to change his lifestyle.
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District Judge Timothy Boswell said: "I am satisfied that David Gregory has caused or contributed to violence or disorder in the UK. The order will contribute to a lessening of violence, albeit in helping to prevent disorder. I make the order and it will last for three years from today."
He told Gregory: "If you do not comply with the banning order it is a criminal offence and you can go to prison. If you do not comply there will be applications to extend this order and you will get longer bans."
David Gregory has been banned from Stoke town centre
Police applied for the order because of Gregory's previous convictions and involvement in violence and disorder linked to Stoke City and England matches.
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Following the case, PC Ben Greensides, a dedicated football intelligence officer covering Stoke City, said: "We applied for this order as a preventative measure and the district judge believed there was sufficient evidence.
"It is to prevent him associating with like-minded people when Stoke City and England are playing. This will prevent him travelling to England games and he will have to surrender his passport when England play abroad.
"We plan to go after individuals involved in football violence at Stoke City and Port Vale. If others meet the criteria then applications will be made."