A Blackburn Rovers fan who tried to smuggle smoke flares into a match has been handed a three-year football banning order.
Kian Talbot-Butler, 22, is now banned from attending matches in the UK after he tried to take two flares into Rovers’ away fixture at Sheffield United on May 3.
Court documents show Talbot-Butler “had ample opportunity to give up the smoke flares to the police and subsequently on his way to the police station, but the defendant concealed the smoke flares until he was strip-searched”.
Rovers had travelled to Bramall Lane on the final day of the EFL Championship season knowing a win could secure a play-off spot, though the match ended in a 1-1 draw, meaning Rovers finished seventh, two points adrift of the play-offs.
As well as the banning order, which lasts until 2028, he was also handed a £480 fine and ordered to pay costs of £85 and a £192 surcharge to fund victim services, and must repay his fine at £60 a month.
The banning order details that when Rovers are playing at Ewood Park, he must not enter a one-mile exclusion zone around the stadium, and another around Blackburn Town Hall, up to four hours prior to kick-off and six hours after, and he may only enter the zone for work purposes.
Talbot-Butler is also banned from travelling to the town or city in which a Blackburn Rovers away match is being played in on the day of the game. If the match is in London or Birmingham, he can be in the city but not within five miles of the stadium.
The same rule applies for any international football match being played in the UK, and he is also banned from “engaging in any activity that contributes to or causes, or is likely to cause or contribute to, football-related violence or disorder, anywhere in the world”.
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