Dale Houghton, 31, charged with public order offence after picture of Bradley Lowery was used to ‘taunt’ Sunderland fans
A MAN has been charged with a public order offence after a picture of Bradley Lowery was used to “taunt” Sunderland fans.
Two men displayed an image of the six-year-old Black Cats fan, who tragically died from cancer in 2017, on Friday evening.
The reports came after the Sheffield Wednesday v Sunderland match held at Hillsborough.
Dale Houghton, 31, from Rotherham, was arrested yesterday and has now been charged with a Section 4a Public Order offence.
Houghton has been remanded in custody and will appear before Sheffield Magistrates’ Court tomorrow morning.
South Yorkshire Police have also applied for a football banning order.
A 27-year-old man, also arrested yesterday, has been released on police bail while further enquiries are conducted.
Bradley was a mascot for his beloved Sunderland and, in the months before his death, led England out at Wembley alongside his hero – former Black Cats striker Jermain Defoe.
Pictures circulated on X, formerly Twitter, showing two men laughing with one of them holding up a picture of Bradley to the camera.
In a post on Facebook, the Bradley Lowery Foundation, a charity set up by the boy’s mother Gemma, said: “This is so sad for me to see – whatever happened to ‘cancer has no colours’, let alone respect for a family that lost their baby to cancer?”
Young Bradley was a regular Sunderland mascot, holding the hand of his idol Defoe.
In June 2017, he penned an emotional tribute to his “best pal” Bradley – saying his favourite part of playing for Sunderland was walking onto the pitch with the brave youngster.
Defoe said he was heartbroken when he discovered the brave child could only have weeks to live.
In the wake of Bradley’s death social media was flooded with messages filled with blue heart emojis in a show of support for him.