Chelsea fans accused of racism row ‘scapegoats’

Four Chelsea fans accused of being involved in a race row in which a black man was shoved off a train while racist chants were sung are being treated as “scapegoats” by police, a court has heard.

Video shows the man, named only as Mr Souleymane in court, pushed off the Metro train as Chelsea supporters sang “we’re racist, we’re racist and that’s the way we like it”.

Footage of the altercation, which came to light after the London club played Paris St Germain in February, sparked outrage and British police issued pictures of those suspected of being involved.

Richard Barklie, 50, Jordan Munday, 20, Josh Parsons, 20, and William Simpson, 26, all deny wrongdoing and are fighting police attempts to issue them with football banning orders.

Alison Gurden, representing Munday, who is seen on the metro carriage as the race chants are sung, accused police of bringing the cases solely because they were under pressure to be seen to crack down on football hooliganism.

She told Stratford Magistrates’ Court: “The reason you have brought this action against Mr Munday is purely because he was on the Metro train, and it had been considered something has to be done to make it look like the Metropolitan Police is stamping down on hooliganism.”

Pc Neil West replied: “No. You can’t get away from the fact it is a high-profile incident.”

Ms Gurden added: “The implication in that is that Mr Munday is effectively being used as a scapegoat. In most situations an application wouldn’t be made at this stage.”

The case continues.