Southampton fan jailed after starting violent brawl with West Brom supporters on train
A football fan who goaded West Bromwich Albion supporters before starting a violent brawl where a man suffered a broken jaw has been jailed.
Southampton supporter Christopher Stevens, aged 52, was on his way to watch his side play at The Hawthorns when violence broke out.
He was travelling on a train from Snow Hill Railway Station towards The Hawthorns station for the match on February 28 last year.
British Transport Police said as the train approached The Hawthorns, Saints supporter Stevens began hurling abuse at Baggies fans and making offensive gestures at them.
Stevens then threw several punches and a man with him, Murrey Holmes, jumped on the seats and kicked out at the West Brom fans, said the force.
During the brawl, one man was hit in the face and suffered a broken jaw while another received a cut to his head.
Both men came forward following a media appeal and were later charged with affray, which Holmes, 24, admitted.
Last summer he was handed a football banning order, as well as a suspended prison sentence.
But Stevens, of Ingle Glen, Dibden Purlieu, Southampton denied the offence, saying he acted in self-defence.
It emerged he had previously been banned from games for football-related violence and came off a banning order three months earlier.
He was found guilty of the offence by a jury.
Stevens appeared before Wolverhampton Crown Court on February 24 where he was jailed for 12 months and handed a three-year football banning order.
Detective Constable Tim Friend, from British Transport Police, said: "Stevens is an out-and-out football hooligan; CCTV footage clearly showed him instigating the fight on the train that day and the level of aggressive and violent behaviour he displayed was completely unacceptable.
"The vast majority of football fans are well-behaved but Stevens is part of a very small minority who sadly don't go to matches to enjoy the beautiful game, but attend with more sinister and dangerous intentions.
"We are committed to protecting the travelling public from this kind of mindless hooliganism and we are satisfied with the sentence handed to Stevens, which we hope serves as a deterrent to like-minded troublemakers about the potential consequences of their actions."
