Thug who wore Man United shirt mocking Hillsborough Disaster is JAILED for 24 years after rape, sexual assault and violent abuse
A thug who wore a Manchester United shirt mocking the victims of the Hillsborough Disaster has been jailed for 24 years for rape, sexual assault and a campaign of violent abuse.
James White was banned from every football ground in the country in 2023 after he pleaded guilty to displaying threatening or abusive writing likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.
The 36-year-old had worn a United jersey with the number 97 on the back along with the words ‘Not Enough’ at the club’s FA Cup Final with Manchester City.
White, who was branded ‘abhorrent’ by a Judge and slammed by survivors of the tragedy, which saw 97 supporters of Liverpool crushed to death at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final, was arrested last year.
A victim told a relative she had been attacked by White, who subsequently fled his address in Warwickshire. She added that White had used a knife to cut her abdomen and that she had suffered bruising on her face, as well as injuries to her back and torso.
White pleaded not guilty to assault, sexual assault, rape and domestic abuse charges. He was subsequently found guilty of all charges at Warwick Crown Court in June.
James White has been jailed for 24 years for rape, sexual assault and a campaign of violent abuse
He was banned from Old Trafford after wearing a shirt mocking the victims of the Hillsborough Disaster
Detective Constable Baylie Cairns, from Warwickshire Police, said White subjected the victim to “a campaign of horrific abuse, violence and sexual assaults” and his sentence “prevents him from posing a risk to the victim and others.
Cairns added: ‘She showed remarkable bravery and courage in speaking to me about the offences committed against her.’
At his previous case, District Judge Mark Jabbitt said it was ‘hard to imagine a more… offensive reference to the 1989 Hillsborough disaster’.
A decade ago a series of inquests found the fans had been unlawfully killed.
White bizarrely told police officers that the t-shirt related to his grandad, who died at the age of 97 ‘and didn’t have enough kids’.
He was fined £1,000, ordered to pay £485 in costs and was banned from all UK games for four years.
An appalled United said it had issued an indefinite ban to White.
‘Mockery of Hillsborough and other football tragedies is completely unacceptable and the club will continue to support firm action to eradicate it from the game,’ a spokesperson said at the time.