Police ‘identify’ racist seven

Seven men sought by British police investigating racist chanting at a mainline station following a Chelsea Champions League game earlier this month have all been identified, police said.

British Transport Police (BTP) said they would be interviewed in due course.

BTP had released images of seven men taken at St Pancras International station in London at around 8pm on February 18, the day after an incident on the Paris Metro before Chelsea’s match with Paris St Germain when a man was subjected to alleged racist abuse.

Solicitor John Kaye, who has been engaged by Chelsea fan Jamie Fairbairn, 23, said his client had accepted being among those in the carriage of the Metro train in Paris during the incident involving a black man, Souleymane Sylla, on the evening of February 17.

He added that Mr Fairbairn denies preventing Mr Sylla from boarding or using words of a racist or threatening nature, and also denies saying anything of a racist nature during his visit to Paris or later at St Pancras. He said Mr Fairbairn was not even present during the alleged racist chanting incident at St Pancras.

The solicitor added that media interest in the story had forced Mr Fairbairn to move away from his home and he had been suspended from work.