Kirkland's attacker receives jail sentence

Last updated : 22 October 2012 By C. Morris

The young man who mindlessly ran on to the pitch and assaulted Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Chris Kirkland during Friday’s Yorkshire derby draw with Leeds has been unsurprisingly found guilty at Sheffield Magistrates Court.

 

Leeds United ‘fan’ Aaron Cawley celebrated his teams equalising goal by entering the field of play and then hit the Owls custodian in the face. After pleading guilty to the assault the 21-year-old was sentenced to 4 months in prison and also received a 5-year football banning order.

To their credit Leeds United Football club were quick to make a statement following the verdict in which they stated that they were pleased that justice had been served so quickly but disappointment that the terms of the sentence were not greater. The club revealed that the thug would be banned from their stadium for life.

Cawley, who has previously had 2 banning orders, claimed he was too drunk to remember what he had done. Given that he evidently has not learnt from the error of his ways having previously been banned it does seem surprising that he will be allowed back into football grounds when he is in his mid-twenties.

Kirkland recovered to complete the final 15 minutes of the match following the attack and will be in line to continue in the Owls goal when the team travels to Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday evening.