NI Chelsea fan gets suspended sentence for Paris race charges
Four Chelsea fans, including a former policeman from Northern Ireland, have been ordered to pay €10,000 (£8,504) to a black commuter they racially abused and shoved off a Paris train.
International outrage was sparked when footage of the now-infamous episode surfaced in February 2015, showing fans chanting: “We’re racist, we’re racist and that’s the way we like it.”
Following a trial in Paris, the supporters were handed suspended sentences on top of the compensation costs for racist violence.
Their suspended terms ranged from six and eight months for two of the defendants to one year for the others.
Richard Barklie, 52, a former RUC officer from Carrickfergus, was not in court to hear the sentences handed down.
The other three accused are Joshua Parsons, 22, James Fairbairn, 25, and William Simpson, 27.
Frenchman Souleymane Sylla was subjected to the abuse before Chelsea’s Champions League match against Paris St Germain on February 17 2015.
Video footage shows a group of about 150 Chelsea fans walk through Paris on their way to the match as flares were set off and some clambered on a car.
They then file into the Metro station, where the race altercation happened.