A Carlisle football fan, once jailed for a post-match attack on a woman charity collector, will have his 10-year ban from the sport ended early after telling a judge he had reformed.
Carl Campbell, now 40, was locked up for the vicious and unprovoked attack on a woman outside the city’s Griffin pub after Carlisle United’s opening match of the 2014-15 season against Luton Town.
Anna Yenilmez was punched in the face and left covered in blood while chatting with two visiting supporters, who were also subjected to violence by Campbell.
He admitted assault charges and received a 33-month jail term from a judge at Carlisle Crown Court who branded the attack on Miss Yenilmez as despicable.
Campbell was also given a 10-year football banning order preventing him from going within a mile-and-a-half of Carlisle United home and away matches for a specified time before and after kick-off.
He also had to surrender his passport to police for specified periods covering international games abroad. This occasionally meant being without it for eight weeks at a time when World Cup or Euros tournaments took place.
But seven years after being sentenced in September 2015, Campbell returned to the crown court yesterday having formally asked for the ban to be lifted now he had served two-thirds of it — a request permitted by law.
Recorder Julian Shaw heard details of the original offending — and that the charity collector was left with a permanent cosmetic blemish.
But the judge also heard of positive progress made by Campbell since being punished. He had applied for the banning order to be quashed, chiefly because matchday no go zones were causing major journey headaches as he went about his work as an electrician six days a week, including Saturdays.
That zone stretched as far as the city centre, St Nicholas Bridges and Caldewgate.
“It cuts off every route into where I live,” Campbell, of Grierson Road, Currock, told Recorder Shaw.
“I’ve taken part in restorative justice,” he added, telling how he had met his victim. “I feel now that I am a reformed person.”
Campbell added that he also hoped to attend future United fixtures with family members.
Taking all submissions into account, Recorder Shaw agreed that the banning order should end. It will be quashed from September 10 — seven years after it was initially imposed.
