Bradley Lowery’s mum distraught after football fan cruelly mocked son’s death
Jermain Defoe: I think about Bradley Lowery everyday
The mother of Bradley Lowery has admitted that she was ‘really, really upset’ after a football fan cruelly mocked her son’s death on Friday night. Bradley, a young Sunderland fan who suffered from a rare form of cancer, won the hearts of the nation and struck up a special friendship with former Black Cats striker Jermain Defoe before his death at the age of six.
During the match between Sheffield Wednesday and Sunderland at Hillsborough on Friday night, an Owls fan appeared to display an image of Bradley on his phone in the direction of the travelling supporters while laughing. Window fitter Dale Houghton, 31, later admitted to a public order offence and was told by a judge on Monday that he could be jailed for his ‘utterly deplorable’ behaviour.
Bradley’s mother Gemma, 40, has since described the mocking of her son’s death as an ‘unforgivable’ act. She also believes that the culprits showed ‘no remorse’ after referring to a series of leaked messages from a chat group, in which it was allegedly said that Bradley did not deserve the ‘special treatment’ he got.
“To be honest, when I first saw it I was upset and a little bit angry, using my child in a negative light,” she told The Mirror. “However, as the day went on and I saw the impact and the backlash the men got. I’m the sort of person who tries to see the good in people, so I started trying to justify their actions, they’ve just been beaten 3-0.
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“When I did my impact victim statement I thought the backlash that they got was probably enough punishment, but then I got sent some messages from a group chat they’d been in which you can clearly see there was no remorse. They said that Bradley shouldn’t have got special treatment and that’s when it really, really hit us.
“It was like a dagger to my heart and I got really, really upset about that. What they did was intentional and they had no remorse for doing it. That’s when I thought: ‘Actually, you are not very nice people and you deserve to be punished’.”
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Houghton, who admitted causing harassment, alarm and distress on Monday, was bailed on the condition he does not attend any football matches in the UK or go within a mile of Hillsborough on match days. He will return to court for sentencing on November 17th and faces a maximum punishment of six months behind bars.
Sheffield Wednesday released a statement via X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday as they condemned the incident in no uncertain terms. They said: “We are aware of the images circulating and have launched an immediate investigation together with South Yorkshire Police.
“We roundly condemn this outrageous and utterly deplorable behaviour. We can only apologise for the undoubted distress caused to Bradley’s family and friends.”
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