Burnley man cleared after football hooligans trashed social club

Simon Massey, 50, had insisted he was only present for no more than 13 seconds during trouble at Burnley Miners’ Club, in January 2014, during a hearing at Preston Crown Court.

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A jury found Massey, of Avondale Road, Nelson, not guilty of involvement in a serious fracas after the Clarets played Sheffield Wednesday.

Interviewed by police, he said: “I am walking in. There are a few people around. You can see all this disturbance on the right-hand side.

“I said ‘what is going on? I am too old for all this trouble’. I am in there 10 seconds if that. I thought, ‘forget this one’.”

Jurors saw him appear briefly on CCTV footage, taken from the club, at the back of a surging mob. But he maintained that he had only gone to the club for a drink and was not interested in the disturbance which ensued.

His co-defendant, 63-year-old Timothy Wilkinson, of Sowclough Road, Bacup, pleaded guilty to violent disorder, after the opening of the same trial.

Wilkinson initially claimed he was only seeking out his son during the melee – but footage showed the pair stood within inches of each other as violence flared.

His son, Andrew Hardman, 31, of Fairfield Avenue, Waterfoot, admitted violent disorder at a previous hearing.

Yobs were heard chanting ‘Suicide Squad’ slogans during the confrontation in the foyer of the Plumbe Street venue, the court heard. One wheelchair user was hurt, a child suffered a head wound and the club was left littered with broken glass and furniture afterwards.

Club officials told police that the Sheffield party had arranged to attend the venue to commemorate a brother of one of their number.

The party had visited the premises previously, without incident, and had not provoked any trouble on this occasion.

Sixteen others mainly from the Burnley and Padiham areas, are awaiting sentence over the incident. Four others are awaiting trial on violent disorder.