Brother of stab victim admits to fighting

Andrew Loftus, 42, pleaded guilty to affray when he appeared at Leeds Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

Loftus, of Stoney Rock Grove, Burmantofts, admitted punching two men, causing them to fall to the ground, and assaulting a third on the evening of January 27 this year.

Prosecutor Diane Rawnsley told the court that the brawl, involving Leeds and Tottenham Hotspur fans, was “fuelled by alcohol”.

The hearing comes less than three weeks after the 13th anniversary of the death of Loftus’s brother, Christopher.

Loftus’s brother Christopher and fellow Leeds fan Kevin Speight were fatally stabbed on the eve of Leeds’s Uefa Cup semi-final tie against Galatasaray on April 5, 2000.

Loftus spoke only to confirm his name and to enter a guilty plea to the charge, which the court said was “unlawful violence which caused another person or persons to fear for their safety”.

He will be sentenced at Leeds Crown Court on May 23.

Loftus is one of 11 men charged over what police called an “appalling explosion of violence” outside the Yates’s pub on Boar Lane in the city centre.

Along with Loftus, Kevin Emmett, 41, of Leeds, and Craig Umpleby, 42, of Harrogate, admitted affray. All three are due to be sentenced on the same day at Leeds Crown Court.

Mitchell Davis, 19, of Leeds, admitted affray and will be sentenced at Leeds Crown Court on May 21. A 17-year-old youth from Keighley, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted the charge and will be sentenced at youth court on May 20.

Andrew Slaney, 51, of Doncaster, denied the charge and will appear before magistrates again on June 20.

Five others did not enter pleas and will appear before magistrates on June 20.