Wolves fan guilty of making racist ‘chimp-like’ gestures towards England striker and spitting on rival fans during defeat to Chelsea

Supporter faces football banning order over offences committed at Molineux Stadium

A football supporter has been found guilty of making monkey gestures towards Chelsea player Tammy Abraham and spitting on rival fans after the striker scored a hat-trick against his team.

Josef Smith, a Wolves season ticket holder, had denied committing two public order offences, one of them racially aggravated, during his club’s 5-2 home defeat to Chelsea on 14 September last year.

He was convicted on Thursday of using threatening or abusive words or behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress, and a racially aggravated count of the same offence.

The 40-year-old warehouse worker, from Kingswinford, near Dudley, now faces a football banning order for the offences and is set to be sentenced later today.

Mr Abraham is one of a number of black England footballers who have reported receiving racist abuse, both online and on the football pitch, in recent months.

Two other Wolves season ticket holders gave evidence at Dudley Magistrates’ Court, with one witness claiming Mr Smith “curled his fists under his arm-pits in a chimp-like gesture” which was apparently aimed at black players on the pitch.

Prosecutor Lynda Gudgeon, opening the case on Thursday, said Mr Smith was ejected from the ground after the incident, which was caught on CCTV from three angles.

“Officers were called to the Upper Steve Bull Stand to assist in relation to ejecting the defendant,” Ms Gudgeon told the court.

The 40-year-old warehouse worker now faces a football banning order (PA)

“They escorted him from his seat, where he was identified at this stage by three witnesses.”

One witness claimed to have seen Mr Smith making monkey gestures and then launching an “astonishing quantity” of spittle at visiting Chelsea supporters, the court heard.

Mr Smith was interviewed by police in November and told officers he was very frustrated with the scoreline and had stood up and sworn during the game.

However, he said he had only “raised his arms in an upwards direction” to motivate the Wolves players.

One of the two witnesses, who gave evidence to magistrates from behind a screen to protect them from being identified, said he did not believe it was possible that Mr Smith was just trying to encourage his team.

“The Chelsea player that scored happened to be black and he celebrated in front of the Chelsea fans who were below us,” the male witness, told the court.

“As he did that, I noticed a gentleman stood up and curled his fists under his armpits in a chimp-like gesture. It certainly looked as if it was aimed towards the players on the pitch and the goalscorer.”

He added: “I believed it was a racist gesture towards the player.”

Additional reporting by PA