Chef, 20, locked up along with Nurse, 41, over Euro 2016 hooliganism – as 16-year-old boy also awaits fate
Alexander Booth will spend the rest of the tournament behind bars and will then be banned from France for two years
SIX England fans have been jailed and banned from France by a court in Marseilles following the football violence which marred the Three Lions opening game of Euro 2016.
Alexander Booth and Ian Hepworth were the first fans to be dealt with after the widespread trouble in the French port city, which left another fan with severe head injuries and Euro 2016 organiser UEFA threatening to ban England and Russia if there is any repeat.
Steven Cornell, 28, from England, Ashley Kelly, 27, from Birmingham, Lee Phillips, 24, from Taunton, Someset, and Paul Jackson, 21, also from England, have also been caged.
Hepworth, a 41-year-old psychiatric nurse from Sheffield was jailed for three months for bottling a policeman and banned from France for two years.
Booth, a cook from Huddersfield, was celebrating his 20th birthday in the city on Sunday and was jailed for the same offence and received the same ban from the country.
Hepworth admitted throwing a beer bottle at police at 1.00 am on Sunday, following England's match with Russia on Saturday.
"My job is helping people. I did something stupid," he said through a court translator.
Hepworth, wearing a blue shirt and with a shaven head, said he had had no intention of hitting police with the bottle.
"I wanted to impress my new French friends," he told the court.
Before the incident, he had attended the match at the Stade Velodrome alone.
Speaking after the court hearing, Booth's dad protested his son's innocence.
Chris Booth said: "It's the lowest of the low. I feel angry, furious, let down.
"Along with my brother we came across to go to the fanzones. On the day, we got the train here from our campsite.
"It started to get rowdy in the Old Port. We had been tear gassed a few times. We moved back to get out the way of things.
"This is when he is supposed to have thrown the plastic glass but my brother said there's no way he threw it.
"All I can think is they said to him if you admit to this you will get out.
"He's been in a solitary cell for 48 hours, still in the same clothes. I have not been able to speak to him or see him.
"I think he is being made a scapegoat of. We are all very respectable people.
"I have witnessed so much violence and hooliganism during these two days.
"Alex did get angry and gobby after he was pepper sprayed but we were walking to the stadium and a police officer pointed at him and he was taken off."
A 16-year-old England fan is among four other Three Lions supporters still awaiting their fate following the violence in Marseilles on the opening weekend of Euro 2016.
A 50-year-old English fan is also in a critical condition with severe brain injuries after being attacked by Russia supporters armed with iron bars.
Portsmouth supporter Andre Bache, known to his mates as Pepe, was in a French hospital after he was on the receiving end of a battering from Russian thugs.
The first England fan to appear in court was 20-year-old Alexander Booth, from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.
He is accused of throwing a plastic bottle at the police during the trouble in Marseille.
Still wearing his England shirt, he said it may have looked like it was aimed for the police but it was not.
He said: "I have never had problems with the police, I respect the police very much. I am hard working."
According to court papers, it was Booth's 20th birthday on Sunday.
The prosecutor asked the judge to jail him for two months as that would mean the tournament would have finished by the time he was released.
Booth said: "I would like to say sorry to the police and to the people and city of Marseille. This is not like me; I'm not a violent person.
"I love my job and my family, I've never been involved in football hooliganism.
"I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
The judge said her decision would be adjourned.
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Next up was Ian Hepworth, from Sheffield, who is accused of throwing a bottle at the police and then walking forward to pick up a second bottle.
The 41-year-old, who works as a psychiatric nurse, claimed he could not remember what had happened.
The prosecutor asked for him to be jailed for three months, saying he knew what he was doing because he ran away afterwards.
But despite the behaviour of the Russian fans, who fought running battles in the streets and also charged at England fans in the Stade Velodrome after Saturday night's 1-1 opening draw, no Russians have been arrested over the violence.
Brice Robin, chief Marseilles prosecutor, told reporters the British teenager was in custody and that he had personally spoken to tournament organisers UEFA to have his future tickets cancelled.
He said about 150 Russian hooligans had been involved in the trouble, describing them as "hyper violent" and "hyper rapid".
But he said just two Russian fans had been arrested, both for a pitch invasion.
The prosecutor added that the England fans attackers "have not been identified".
He went on to say that six Britons, an Austrian and three Frenchmen would be tried for the violence in the Riviera city.
The Russians who evaded capture were described as "extremely well-trained".
Robin added that the prosecution would be seeking jail sentences for those charged as well as requesting a ban on entering the country.
He didn't go as far as to describe the Russian hooligans as"professional" but did call them "extreme".
There were 12,000 Russian fans in Marseille who travelled to the city by train, he said.
Uefa has warned England they face disqualification from the tournament if the widespread violence is repeated.
The governing body branded the behaviour of both England and Russia fans before and after their 1-1 draw ''unacceptable'' and said it would not hesitate to impose additional sanctions.
It also opened disciplinary proceedings against the Russian Football Union for alleged crowd disturbances, racist behaviour and the setting-off of fireworks by its fans during the game on Saturday night.
Police said Darren Rodgers, 25, from Ballymena, toppled 26ft over a barrier from a promenade on to a hard pebble beach in the south coast city at around 2am on Monday.
The violence has resulted in an unprecedented from England's Manager and Captain who have appealed to fans to "stay out of trouble".
The FA has shared a video of Roy Hodgson and Wayne Rooney in which the pair urge three lions supporters to do all they can to avoid a repeat of the ugly scenes which unfolded in Marseilles.
Speaking in the Commons Theresa May said seven England fans were currently in hospital – two with very severe injuries.
The Home secretary added that Uefa and France had questions to answer on how segregation between fans broke down in the stadium.
She said:“I am in no doubt that coordinated groups of Russian supporters bear a heavy responsibility for instigating violence.
“However we must ensure we have our own house in order. Some amongst the English contingent in Marseille behaved inexcusably.
“Anyone who has travelled to France to cause trouble has let down their nation and done a disservice to all genuine England fans.”
She says she has discussed the issues with her French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve, and plans are in place to ensure there are more British police spotters in Lens for the England game against Wales on Thursday.
May added that more than 1,400 people with a history of football related violence had been stopped from going to the tournament in the first place.
She said: “Above all, I would appeal to the English and Welsh fans travelling to the match this Thursday, Uefa has made it clear the penalties for bad behaviour from individuals and for the teams they support will be severe.
“I have every confidence the fans will respond in the right spirit, and we can all get back to enjoying the tournament.”
Asked whether David Cameron was concerned that England could be expelled from Euro 2016 over hooliganism, the Prime Minister's official spokeswoman said: "The Government is deeply concerned by the violence in Marseille at the weekend, including the reports of fans being attacked by rival supporters.
"We welcome Uefa's decision to launch an investigation into the violence and we will look at how we can support that while engaging with our European partners."
On the question of whether England or Russia might be disqualified if there is further violence, she said: "That's a matter for Uefa and for them to judge. They need to make judgments based on what is happening on the ground."
Yet a senior Russian MP and football executive sparked uproar by congratulating his twisted fans in France.
Deputy Chairman of Russian Parliament Igor Lebedev, and e said: “Well done fighting fans, keep it up.
The member of the Russian Football Union executive committee added: “Ninety per cent of the fans go to football to fight, and that is normal. Our guys stood for our country.
“Guys defended the honour of the country and did not allow the British in any way to defile our homeland.”
Mrs May also revealed that 1,400 people with history of football violence have already been prevented from travelling to France.
Labour’s Andy Burnham said English fans were subject of extreme provocation and there were “severe failings” inside the stadium.
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