A man has been banned from attending football matches for five years and fined £2,000 after being found guilty of lighting a marine flare in Middlesbrough's Riverside Stadium.

Owen McAvoy, 21, was slapped with a ban at Teesside Magistrates Court yesterday (October 29) after he was seen igniting a marine flare under a plastic banner in the stands on October 28 of last year.

McAvoy, from Linthorpe in Middlesbrough, lit the flare during a Middlesbrough FC and Stoke City match and was later arrested after he was identified by photographs.

He was convicted on 13th August of possession of a marine flare during the period of a designated sporting event in a designated sports ground.  

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PC Chris Hilton, from the Matrix Team’s Football Unit, said: “Possession of a flare or any kind of pyrotechnic in a football stadium is a criminal offence, however, lighting one in a crowd of thousands of fans has obvious dangers which could have led to mass panic and potential injuries. 

“Incidents like this won’t be tolerated and I hope that today’s banning order will stand as a warning to others that, should you irresponsibly bring a flare or other pyrotechnics into a football stadium, and furthermore proceed to light them, there will be consequences.

“We will work together with Middlesbrough FC to ban those people from attending further football games.”