Liverpool fan who smuggled flares into game cries as banned from future games

Luke Dwyer was tried last year for dangerous driving while being prevented from getting behind the wheel, then the 29-year-old committed two other offences

A man who attempted to intervene in a Liverpool game after violating a suspended sentence twice.

Luke Dwyer was tried last year for dangerous driving while being prevented from getting behind the wheel.

But despite a chance, the 29-year-old committed two more offences.

The Liverpool Echo told how the accused cried in court when he was threatened with imprisonment for the first time.

Described by the judge, Recorder Daniel Prowse, as “terrifying”, Dwyer narrowly avoided jail in 2021 after a judge handed him a 10-month sentence with an 18-month suspended sentence.

Paul Blasbery, prosecutor, said Liverpool FC fan Dwyer was then apprehended by a ground search dog trying to get into Selhurst Park to watch Liverpool play Crystal Palace on Sunday 23 January this year.

Officers found a torch that Dwyer said he intended to light at a relative’s house rather than in the ground.

He was charged and pleaded guilty to violating his suspended sentence.

Knowing that he could be jailed for that violation alone, four months later he was pulled over by police in Newton-le-Willows after seeing an erratic car.

When officers approached the car just after midnight on Wednesday, May 5, they found Dwyer, who had had his license suspended, behind the wheel and with cannabis in the vehicle.

Police statements presented to the court said Dwyer was “heavily under the influence of cannabis,” with glassy eyes and slow speech.

Attempts to run a blood test to confirm the presence of drugs in his system were denied by Dwyer, and he was later arrested on suspicion while being disqualified without producing a sample and possession of cannabis.

Callum Ross, defending himself, said Dwyer accepted responsibility for all crimes as soon as they were brought to justice and deeply regretted his actions.

On Dwyer’s refusal to address drug testing, Mr Ross said it was driven by medical concerns, rather than trying not to get caught.

Mr Ross said: “He previously had blood samples taken and passed out as a result. This is clearly not a defense and he accepts it by his guilty plea.

“Perhaps you can see that it was an honest conviction, if not an apology.”

The torch incident meant that Dwyer became the subject of a football ban.

Mr Ross appealed to the judge to keep this ban as short as possible, saying: “He’s a huge football fan, he’s been attending away and home games for Liverpool for a decade.

“He’s never had a football-related conviction.”

But the judge, Recorder Daniel Prowse, said Dwyer’s actions, particularly the fact that his offenses in May were similar to those for which he received his original suspended sentence, meant he had to go to jail.

Dwyer, from Ashton-in-Makerfield, Greater Manchester, was sentenced to a total of six months.

That included an eight-week sentence for the offenses committed earlier this month and four months of his suspended sentence.

He will also have his driver’s license revoked for four years and be banned from regular soccer games for three years.

Dwyer cried at various points during the hearing but was emotionless as he was led to the cells.