A football supporter who mocked Sunderland fans with a photograph of mascot Bradley Lowery, who died from cancer aged six, has been given a suspended sentence as the judge described his actions as “utterly appalling” and “disgraceful”.
Dale Houghton, 32, taunted Sunderland fans with a picture of Lowery on his phone during a match against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough Stadium in September.
The Sheffield Wednesday supporter admitted a public order offence at a previous hearing.
On Friday, Houghton, from Rotherham, was given a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work by the district judge Marcus Waite.
Lowery was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare form of cancer, when he was 18 months. The fan and mascot for his local team, Sunderland, died in 2017.
Waite told Houghton at Sheffield magistrates court: “You showed callous disrespect to a brave young man who was rightly held in the highest esteem by football fans everywhere.”
The judge added: “Your actions on that day were utterly appalling. Your behaviour was disgraceful.”
Waite also gave Houghton a five-year football banning order and imposed a £154 victim surcharge and ordered him to pay £85 prosecution costs.
He said that although the offence was almost spontaneous, the defendant took some time to search for the image of Bradley on his phone.
The judge said to Houghton that during this brief moment: “Did you not think to yourself ‘what the hell am I doing?’.”
However, Waite said he believed the defendant had shown “genuine remorse” after hearing how he had lost his job as a window fitter over the incident and also a second job when his new employers found out what he had done.
The court was also told how Houghton had moved out of his parents’ home due to the backlash over his actions and his relationship with his partner had also been affected.
Earlier, the prosecutor Mark Hughes said the incident happened after Houghton and his brother had been engaged in “standard football banter” with a group of 200 Sunderland fans that escalated to them taunting each other with the badges of their local rival teams, Newcastle United and Sheffield United.
Houghton subsequently searched for the image of Lowery and was photographed showing it to the Sunderland fans and laughing “to piss them off”, the court heard.
The image was shared on X, formerly Twitter, and triggered widespread outrage.
Houghton, who had been drinking before the match, left the ground when Wednesday went 2-0 behind to go to the pub and only found out later the scale of the turmoil he had caused, the prosecutor said.
Connie Coombs, defending, said her client accepted his actions were “outrageous”, “deplorable”, “atrocious” and a “heinous act”.
Coombs said it was “a moment of utter stupidity in the context of back-and-forth between himself and the Sunderland fans”.
She said alcohol contributed to the offence, which was “out of character”.
Coombs added: “He wishes to express his deep remorse, certainly to Bradley Lowery’s family, as well to the general public.”
In a statement read to the court, Bradley’s mother, Gemma, described the “emotional turmoil” Houghton’s actions had caused.
PA Media contributed to this report