'Just bring it back': Football shirt laid in tribute to Northampton 'kindhearted legend' Stephen Swann goes missing

A grieving Northampton family is asking for whoever took a precious football shirt that was cable-tied to the railings near to where their son was killed in a hit-and-run accident to return it.

Stephen 'Swanny' Swann had been out with his friends from Standens Barn FC on May 20, 2018, when he was hit and killed by a speeding driver as he was crossing Wellingborough Road. He was 39.

But now, a treasured SBFC football shirt that was the centre piece of a tribute to Stephen near to where he died has gone missing.

The white Away Colours shirt with the number eight on the back was fastened to the railings near to the junction of Norman Road and Wellingborough Road with cable ties.

But sometime over this weekend, the shirt was taken.

"They even took the cable ties," Stephen's brother Darrell Swann told the Chronicle & Echo.

"A friend said they noticed it was gone on Sunday morning (August 16), so we think it might have been taken between Saturday evening and Sunday morning.

"Whoever has got it, can you just bring it back.

"It's just being disrespectful to my family. We just want to have it back."

Now, Darrell and his family are asking for anyone who might have the shirt to bring it to The Road to Morocco pub on Bridgewater Drive, Abington Vale, where they can leave it with no questions asked.

The shirt is white with red trim around the shoulder and armpits, and is emblazoned with the number eight and 'Road to Morocco'.

Darrell says he is also speaking to residents who live near to the tribute who might have CCTV from Saturday evening.

In the weeks after Stephen's death, his friends and teammates at SBFC held a tribute charity football match in memory of the "kindhearted legend".

In September 2019, 21-year-old Mohammed Rahman of St James Park was jailed for 26 months for killing Stephen in the hit-and-run collision.

The court heard how Rahman not only drove off without trying to help, but abandoned his car and later cleaned the exterior and interior in a bit to destroy evidence.