England: The thugs who shamed a city - 05/12/2006Source: Birmingham Mail
THEY appeared to be the height of respectability.
A hard-working multi-millionaire company director, an ambulance driver, a hero soldier commended for bravery in Iraq.
Darron Brough, Mark O'Connor and Darren Williams appear to be just the kind of people the community needs. But today they can be revealed as violent football thugs.
They and more than 50 others - many with good jobs or involved in charity work where they live - have been sentenced over shameful football violence which brought terror to families in a Birmingham street.
It perplexed His Honour Judge Ross, at Birmingham Crown Court, who said: "That is one of the great tragedies of this case.
"Man after man are mature family men, often doing good work for the communities, yet they became involved in this.
"It has been one of the features that family and friends are more than surprised by what some people who are otherwise respectable get involved in.
" I don't understand it and expect I never will."
The Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion yobs were involved in a pre-planned pitched battle outside The Uplands family pub in Handsworth, two-and-a-half hours after the 1-1 draw in August 2004.
The Birmingham Mail can today finally name the 60 thugs after a court order gagging us from reporting their trials was lifted.
Up to 80 men - fuelled by booze and some armed with iron bars, wooden posts, bricks, bottles and glasses - were captured by police cameras as they rampaged outside the Uplands pub, in Oxhill Road, as terrified passers-by, including a woman with two young children, cowered in fear.
Following extensive police inquiries, 60 men were charged and 58 of them received football banning orders.
A handful of the jailed yobs had previous convictions for football hooliganism - including three men for the infamous 2002 'Battle of Rocky Lane' between Villa and Blues thugs on the eve of the teams' first top flight clash for 16 years.
Police said hooligan groups attached to both clubs arranged their own "fixture" of a different kind.
What they didn't know was that one of the key thugs was being secretly taped by police.
Police said a crowd of Villa hooligans, some already banned from football matches for hooliganism, had been drinking in the Rose Villa Tavern, in Highgate, just outside the two-mile cordon imposed by their banning order.
Meanwhile, Albion fans were in the Royal Oak, in West Bromwich.
A flurry of phone calls was exchanged between the two groups but police were secretly videoing Baggies fan Simon Hamblett as he spoke to an unknown Villa counterpart.
"How many do you want?" he asked. "How many's a good knock like? How many, 40-50?"
After apparently spotting police he said: "Old Bill got us now. See you later."
When police arrested him he dropped a pool ball under a hedge.
Text messages were found on the mobile phones of two other fans, Matthew Brittle and John Crawley.
One read: "Not going to match. Just going to smash town up."
Hamblett, 32, a painter from Charnwood Road, Walsall, pleaded guilty to a more serious charge of conspiracy to commit violent disorder and was jailed for three years with a 10-year football ban.
The Villa group, their numbers buoyed by other so-called fans, left the Rose Villa Tavern for the Uplands Pub, in Oxhill Road, Handsworth.
By a stroke of "good fortune and good policing" as the trial judge said, police spotters were on the scene as they thugs clashed.
They capture seven sickening minutes of violence which proved the crucial evidence that led to the thugs being brought to justice.
Notorious thug Steven Fowler, 36, of Cottage Lane, Minworth - branded a committed football hooligan by the trial judge - was jailed for 20 months for his part in the brawl on August 22, 2004.
Just weeks before, he was jailed for a year for his part in another violent clash between Villa fans and Chelsea supporters in London in March 2004.
Christopher Deakin, Liam McCarron, Carl Meah and Jamie Wellings, who were convicted alongside him for the Chelsea incident, were also jailed for their part in the fight in Handsworth.
Another man, Spencer 'Spenna' Evans, a well-respected member of the community who did charity work, had even contributed to a book about soccer thugs in which the Uplands brawl was discussed.
Multi-millionaire company director Darron Brough, 41, of Walsall Wood Road, Aldridge was jailed for 15 months.
Soldier Darren Williams, 33, from Falfield Grove, Longbridge, escaped a prison sentence after the court heard glowing references from senior Army officers about his conduct during a six-month posting to Basra. It is understood he was awarded a bravery commendation.
Shopfitter Jamie Teale, 21, from Forest Lane, Bloxwich was jailed for 21 months, and was said by police to be "a Walsall hooligan doing a bit a freelance to help Villa out."
Yesterday, father-of-three Neil Hemming, 43, from Emily Road, South Yardley, became the last person to be sentenced for his part in the mass brawl, nearly two-and-a-half years ago.
The assembler, who didn't throw a single punch but acted "a referee", received a 12-months prison sentence suspended for two years, a five-year football ban and was ordered to pay £500 in costs.
After his conviction, Judge Martin Cardinal lifted the reporting restrictions.
A West Midlands Police spokesman said: "This was a lengthy investigation that resulted in 58 people being banned from football matches for a considerable period of time. If you go to football matches intent on causing trouble you will be arrested, put before the courts and banned from watching the game.
"It should be made clear that, while these people may claim to be football fans they are, in fact, criminals."
West Bromwich Albion match day operations manager, Kevin Jennings, said: "We are pleased that the leading police officers in this case have highlighted the role the club played in apprehending the offenders.
"At the start of the 2004/2005 season, the club provided the police with extra funds to enable the force to have evidence gatherers - officers with video cameras - in operation on match days. This proved crucial during this incident.
"Following the jail terms handed out by the courts in this case, we are hoping hooligans will think twice before causing trouble."
Yesterday at 7:14 pm by UFW Maltchickers
