Italian ‘ultra’ is jailed for attack on Liverpool fan

A BALACLAVA-CLAD Italian hooligan who “destroyed” the life of a Liverpool supporter and his family in a “vicious” attack ahead of a Champions League tie has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.

AS Roma supporter Simone Mastrelli, 30, picked out fatherof-three Sean Cox, 53, from the Liverpool FC scarf he was wearing and knocked him unconscious with a single heavy blow to the face near to Anfield stadium.

Mastrelli, a married man with children, was at the fore of a group of between 50 and 60 ‘ultras’ in distinctive clothing, with many covering their heads and faces and some carrying belts in their hands as weapons.

As Mr Cox, from Dunboyne in Co Meath, Ireland, lay motionless, the defendant disappeared into the crowd and then removed his balaclava and hood before returning to the ground and watching the first leg of the semi-final tie on April 24 last year.

Mastrelli flew back to Italy the next day and remained at large until he was arrested in October and put under house arrest after painstaking inquiries by Merseyside Police. He fought extradition in several appeals before being brought to the UK last month.

Yesterday, he appeared at Preston Crown Court and admitted unlawfully and maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm on Mr Cox. A charge of violent disorder will lie on file.

The court heard Mr Cox was undergoing treatment at Ireland’s National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dun Laoghaire for a “profound” brain injury which had left him unable him to communicate his needs, wants and wishes.

The Recorder of Preston, Judge Mark Brown, said: “You have destroyed the life of an innocent man and his family.”

Alison Gurden, mitigating, said Mastrelli was a family man himself and was “distraught” at the suffering he had caused.