Sean Cox attacker pleads guilty to GBH after Anfield assault

Simone Mastrelli, who was extradited last month after being arrested on a European Arrest Warrant in Italy, entered a guilty plea at Preston Crown Court to inflicting grievous bodily harm on Cox

A 30-year-old man from Rome has pleaded guilty to assaulting Liverpool fan Sean Cox outside Anfield ahead of the club's Champions League semi-final first-leg against AS Roma last April.

Simone Mastrelli, who was extradited last month after being arrested on a European Arrest Warrant in Italy in connection with the attack, entered a guilty plea at Preston Crown Court to unlawfully and maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm on Cox.

Mastrelli pleaded not guilty to a separate count of violent disorder which will lie on file after the Court accepted the plea.

Sentencing by the Recorder of Preston, Judge Mark Brown, will follow shortly.

Cox, from Dunboyne in Co Meath, Ireland, suffered serious head injuries during the attack and has been recovering at the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dun Laoghaire.

In the wake of the assault, which took place on 24 April, the 53-year-old spent four-and-a-half weeks at Liverpool's Walton Centre, a specialist neurological unit for brain injuries, before being transferred to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin.