Fans have bans quashed
Three Wolves fans jailed over a violent brawl in London's Leicester Square have had their football banning orders quashed.
A group of 15 yobs lashed out during the booze-fulled rampage following their team's 3-1 defeat to West Ham in October, 2004.
Steve Powner, aged 34, Matthew James Cooper, 20, and Thomas Slater, 22, all admitted affray and were banned from football grounds for six years last September.
But yesterday, the banning orders were quashed at London's Criminal Appeal Court.
The decision was taken by Lord Justice Pill, Mr Justice Calvert-Smith and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones after they decided the offences were not football related.
The trouble began when a comment was made about a woman who was walking with the Wolves fans.
Powner, of Old Hednesford Road, Cannock, pulled his jacket over his head and butted and punched two victims, before being knocked down and kicked. He was jailed for nine months.
Cooper, of St Michael's Court, Tettenhall, punched one victim and stamped on the head of another, before kicking him at least six times. He was sent to a young offenders' institution for 16 months.
Slater, of Hydes Road, Wednesbury, using a scarf as a makeshift mask, punched another man in the face, and got seven months in jail.
Earlier this year, eight other men involved in the brawl had their orders overturned by the court after judges were told that the incident had taken place three hours after the match and involved a group of stag night revellers.
In his judgment in that case, Mr Justice Burnton said there had been no football-related element to the brawl.
No chants were used, no colours worn and there was nothing verbal or physical to identify them as Wolves fans.
He said their presence in the West End had been football-related, but their involvement in the trouble was not and the banning orders had to be quashed.
Yesterday, Mr Justice Calvert-Smith, in allowing the three men's appeals, echoed his remarks.
