Everton fan Sion Owen was arrested after making an offensive gesture known as ‘The Wall’ (Picture: Sion Owen/Cavendish Press)
An Everton football fan was ordered to pay £820 after taunting Liverpool supporters about the 1985 Heysel Stadium disaster.
Electrician Sion Owen, 23, was watching a match at Anfield when he was seen making pushing motion with his hands known as ‘The Wall’, a court heard.
The gesture, well known in football circles, refers to when 39 mostly Juventus supporters died after being crushed by a collapsing wall at Heysal Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, during the Liverpool vs Juventus European Cup Final.
The wall fell after crowd trouble caused a surge of Liverpool supporters to push against it from the other side. The taunting ‘Wall’ gesture is seen as a way of blaming Liverpool fans for the deaths.
Owen, however, claimed he had never heard of the tragedy, which, he said, happened so long ago it was not part of his ‘cultural reference’, Sefton magistrates court heard.
But he was found guilty of using threatening behaviour and ordered to pay a £300 and £520 in court costs and victim surcharge. He was spared a ban from all football stadiums.
Owen insisted that his hand gestures were a complaint about the Liverpool players ‘diving’ during tackles.
Owen insisted the gesture was about Liverpool players ‘diving’ (Picture: Sion Owen/Cavendish Press)
He was spotted during a match on October 21 last year after Everton defender Ashley Young was controversially sent off in the 37th minute of the game for his second booking after a foul.
Prosecutor Tom Quirk said: ‘A number of Everton fans in the stadium were making pushing gestures towards the Liverpool fans. The officer describes this as being tragedy baiting, making reference to the Heysel Stadium football tragedy where fans were crushed by a wall.
‘The defendant was effectively making fun of what is a tragic moment in football history. The gesture is abusive.’
CCTV footage showed two Everton fans sat near Owen making aggressive pushing motions before Owen himself was seen pointing to the main stand on his right while shouting or singing.
He then faced the pitch again and pushed his hands forwards four times before folding his arms.
The aftermath of the Heysal tragedy which left 39 dead in 1985 (Picture: Getty Images)
The CCTV operator at the stadium saw what he’d done and told police. Owen was arrested as he left his seat.
Mr Quirk added: ‘It was put to him that it was a reference to the Heysel disaster. He said he was not aware of the Wall.
‘He said he was not even born at the time of the Heysel disaster. We say the defendant knew exactly what he was doing.’
PC Rob Jones, operational football officer for Liverpool Football Club, said: ‘The gesture is very clear and unequivocal and is reference to the Heysel disaster of 29 May 1985.
‘The ‘Wall’ gesture is well known in football circles implies that Liverpool fans were responsible for the disaster.
‘Unfortunately, it is well used to provoke Liverpool football fans. I have seen it hundreds of times, if not more. It was not just one of the worst tragedies in Liverpool Football Club’s history, but in football in general.
‘The gesture is solely the preserve of Liverpool. That is not used anywhere else.’
Giving evidence Owen, who has no previous convictions or cautions and lives with his parents, said he had been an Everton supporter since he was a child.
Owen said he’d never heard of the Heysel disaster (Picture: Sion Owen/Cavendish Press)
He told the hearing: ‘The Liverpool players kept going down. They were getting a small nudge in the back and were going down too easily.
‘I was heated and the gesture was just towards the ref as the ref was giving the fouls. At half time, I went to go to the toilet and there were three or four police officers there and they just arrested me.
‘I was just shocked and I did not know what to say.’
Defence solicitor Sarah Gruffydd said: ‘The suggestion that this was aimed at the fans, when they would have been across the pitch is not tenable. He was looking at the pitch and the players. He is not a football hooligan.’
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Finding Owen guilty District Judge James Clarke said: ‘PC Jones has significant experience in the area and was satisfied that this was a gesture known as The Wall, a recognised gesture which he has seen a number of times.
‘It was clear that you were not the instigator as there were persons there that you were inspired by or copied.
‘But it was in the sight of other people, in the open, and in view of the rival fans. This gesture carries a particularly painful significance for Liverpool fans.’
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