Stoke fan receives payout from Greater Manchester Police

Article published: Thursday, July 2nd 2009

A Stoke City fan who was prevented by Greater Manchester Police from attending a match has been awarded £750 in compensation by the force.

This amounts to an admission of misuse of powers by the force.

As MULE online reported, Lyndon Edwards was part of a group of around 80 Stoke fans forcibly removed from a pub in Irlam, detained for four hours and taken back to Stoke under Section 27 of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 despite committing no offence. The police claimed this was based on intelligence of plans to cause trouble at the game against Manchester United at Old Trafford on 15 November. The fans were denied the use of toilets and forced to urinate in cups on the journey back.

The Stoke City FC Chairman has promised to underwrite £20,000 of his legal costs.

In February GMP apologised to the fans involved. However, they initially only issued six of them with ticket refunds.

Civil rights group Liberty and the Football Supporters’ Association are now involved in a legal action against the police, arguing that Section 27 should not be used to move groups of football supporters.

More: News, Policing

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