Football fan jailed for almost three years after attack in Northampton service station following Championship game

A football fan has been jailed for nearly three years after a fight broke out at a Northampton service station after the last game of the Championship season.

Lee Waud, aged 38, admitted drunkenly attacking a Stoke City supporter at the northbound Rothersthorpe services on the M1 on Bank Holiday Monday (May 8) as he travelled home by coach following Hull City’s final match of the EFL Championship season at Luton Town’s Kenilworth Road.

Stoke City fans were on their way back from a 2–0 defeat to Watford, and Hull City fans were on their way back from a goal-less draw with the now Premier League Hatters. Neither Hull nor Stoke had anything to play for on the last day of the season.

The incident came shortly after Waud had attacked a Swansea City fan in Hull following a league fixture on April 29 at the Tiger’s MKM Stadium.

Waud was charged with two counts of affray in relation to the incidents, and after pleading guilty at Hull Crown Court on Friday, June 30, he was sentenced to nine months for the Northampton attack and 12 months for the Hull incident.

He was also given an additional consecutive 14 months for breaching a suspended sentence for a previous offence, making a total of two years and 11 months in prison.

Detective Sergeant Pete Ticehurst, of Northampton CID, said: “I hope this court result shows people looking to attend matches and cause disruption that it absolutely won’t be tolerated.

“Football should be an opportunity for people to come together over one common love of the sport, and anyone who looks to disrupt or ruin that will be dealt with robustly and have to face the consequences.

“I’d like to thank our colleagues at Humberside Police for their efforts to ensure Waud was brought to book for his violent offending, and I’m glad to see him also banned from attending matches for a long time.”

Waud, of Staveley Road, Hull, was also issued with a maximum 10-year football banning order, preventing him from attending any matches during this period.