Hooligan jailed for attacking columnist

A FOOTBALL hooligan who attacked Owen Jones, the columnist for The Guardian, over his sexuality and political beliefs has been sentenced to two years and eight months in prison.

James Healy, 40, admitted assaulting Mr Jones outside a pub in August last year, but denied being motivated by the writer’s sexuality or campaigning, claiming he did not know who he was.

After a two-day hearing at Snaresbrook Crown Court to determine Healy’s motive, Anne Studd QC, the recorder, found the attack could only have been motivated by Mr Jones’s profile as a Left-wing commentator.

“This was a wholly unprovoked attack on Mr Jones by reason of his widely published Left-wing and LGBTQ beliefs by a man who has demonstrable Right-wing sympathies,” the recorder said.

Healey had a string of convictions for football-related violence. A search of his home found items connected to the far-right, including pin badges linked to white supremacist groups.

Healy had argued he “had the hump” because the victim had bumped into him and spilt his drink outside the Lexington pub, in Pentonville Road, Islington, north London. Mr Jones suffered cuts and swelling to his back and head, and bruises all down his body.

Healy admitted affray and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Two codefendants, Charlie Ambrose, from Brighton, and Liam Tracey, from Camden, were given sentences of eight months each, suspended for two years, after pleading guilty to affray.