Jail for Worksop hooligan who stamped on fan’s head and hurled man onto tracks at Retford train station

Lewis Clifford was wearing a yellow Sheffield United t-shirt and accompanied by his father and two sons when violence erupted at 8.30pm on September 16, 2023.

CCTV showed him knocking one man onto the tracks with a single punch just before a high-speed train rushed by on the next set of tracks and the court heard he was fortunate not to be killed.

Clifford hit two other men and swung and missed at a third before throwing more blows at him.

His victim hit his head against a pillar and collapsed to the ground where Clifford stamped on his head.

This man was taken to Lincoln A&E where he was treated for small fractures to his cheek and eye socket but no surgery was needed.

“We all like football but we are not fighters or troublemakers,” he said in a statement. “He stamped on my head when I was unconscious. How can someone do that?

“There were young children with him. It could have been so much worse.”

Bradley Maw, mitigating, said the initial 40 minutes of football-related banter became “more snide and less friendly” and Clifford was goaded by five men who were “extraordinarily drunk” after downing 10-12 pints each.

He said Clifford was initially the peacemaker but his first victim threatened to stab him and he “completely lost his temper.”

But he wasn’t prosecuted for punching that man onto the tracks because police didn’t submit the charge in time, prosecutor Andrew Conboy said.

Mr Maw said the assault lasted 20 seconds and the other individuals acted in an aggressive manner while Clifford was sober.

He said the father-of-four deserved full credit for pleading guilty and has no criminal convictions since 2011.

Clifford, 38, of Bondhay Lane, Whitwell Common, Worksop, admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm, when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court on November 26.

On Tuesday, he was sentenced to eight months in prison. He will serve up to 40 per cent in custody and the rest on licence. He was ordered to pay a £154 surcharge and £85 costs and banned from attending UK football matches for five years.