Fan detained over pitch invasion

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A teenager who invaded the pitch during Celtic's Champions League match against Manchester United earlier this month has been locked up for six months.

John Murphy, 18, of Glenavon Road, Glasgow, was also given a five-year banning order from football grounds - one of the longest imposed in Scotland.

He had admitted invading the pitch at Celtic Park on 5 November.

Uefa fined Celtic £42,000 plus £17,000 that had been suspended following a similar incident last season.

Sentencing Murphy at Glasgow Sheriff Court, Sheriff Linda Ruxton branded his behaviour "dangerous and irresponsible".

"Not only did you create a situation in which there were fears for the safety of the players on the pitch, but you interrupted a high-profile match and created a situation which might easily have provoked serious public disorder," she said.

"Furthermore, you brought Scottish football generally and Celtic Football Club in particular into disrepute and your behaviour caused the club to be fined a substantial amount."

Sheriff Ruxton said she would have detained him for nine months but in view of his guilty plea she reduced it to six months.

She also imposed a football banning order which bars him from attending any regulated football match in the UK or abroad for five years.

"Such a sentence is particularly designed to have a deterrent effect on others who need to appreciate that such behaviour at football matches will not be tolerated by the courts," she said.

Murphy was admonished on a charge of drunkenness.

Celtic Football Club welcomed the court's decision, especially the football banning order.

A statement said: "This type of behaviour will not be tolerated by the club and we hope the severity of the sentence will act as a deterrent to others in the future.

"Although the offender is not a season book holder at Celtic Park, it goes without saying that he is banned from the stadium for life."