A TEENAGE football hooligan who was "at the forefront" of tension between Burnley and Blackburn fans after a derby match has had his pleas for a lighter sentence thrown out by top judges.

Blackburn supporter, Samuel David Hindle, 18, was one of around 50 men who ran out of The Station and Beehive pubs, to confront members of Burnley's "Suicide Squad" faction.

Hindle, of Shadsworth Road, Blackburn, was sent to a young offenders' institution for six months at Preston Crown Court in January after he admitted affray. He was also banned from attending football matches for six years.

Three senior judges, sitting at London's Court of Appeal, today rejected calls from his lawyers that his sentence should be suspended, and ordered that he remain behind bars.

Mr Justice Sweeney told the court Hindle had been in The Station pub celebrating Blackburn's win over their local rivals in October 2009 when trouble flared outside.

He said a number of Burnley fans came down the street chanting songs associated with the Suicide Squad hooligan group. Hindle and other Blackburn fans ran out of the pub, but clashes were prevented by police.

The judge said Hindle was "at the forefront" of the group who emerged from the bar and shouted abuse at the Burnley fans before he was "clothes lined" by a policeman and confined to the pub.

Other fans then turned their anger on police, pelting them with glasses and bottles. The judge accepted that Hindle was not part of that violence, but said he was involved in the original melee which led to it.

Daniel Prowse, for Hindle, told judges his client was young and "carried away in the moment". He said Hindle's sentence should have been suspended to allow him to continue a college course he was taking.

But Mr Justice Sweeney, sitting with Lord Justice Hooper and Sir Robert Nelson, rejected his arguments, saying tough sentences were needed to deter "mob violence".

He said: "This was an appalling incident and, had it not been for the intervention of the police, it would no doubt have been even worse.”