Man pleads guilty to public order offence after mocking death of football mascot Bradley Lowery, 6

A man has pleaded guilty to a public order offence after he mocked the death of football mascot Bradley Lowery, following an incident at Sheffield Wednesday’s clash with Sunderland on Friday. 

Dale Houghton, 31 appeared at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court on Monday (October 2) and will be sentenced next month. This comes after pictures circulated on X, formerly Twitter, showing two men laughing at Wednesday’s Hillsborough Stadium, with one of them - Houghton - holding up a picture of Bradley to the camera. 

Sunderland fan Bradley captured the nation’s heart during his battle with neuroblastoma, but succumbed to the illness aged six in 2017. He was a mascot for his beloved club and, in the months before his death, led England out at Wembley alongside former Black Cats striker Jermain Defoe.

Houghton, from Rotherham, was bailed and will be sentenced on November 17.

District Judge James Gould told him “your actions are utterly deplorable” and that all sentence options were open, including a prison sentence.