A man caught in ‘mindless football violence’ during an Oxford United game was given a final chance to complete his court order – after a judge was told he’d done Open University courses on ethics, anxiety and blues music.
Jamal Wilson-Perry, 21, could have faced a spell behind bars for breaching the community order imposed last March for his part in a massed brawl outside the Kassam Stadium in 2019.
In July, Judge Michael Gledhill QC gave the Oxford man – who admitted the breach – a chance to prove his commitment to the court order.
And after hearing on Friday that Wilson-Perry had done 42 hours’ worth of educational courses with the Open University, Judge Gledhill allowed the community order.
Among the courses he’d completed were a seven hour programme on ethics, a six hour course on ‘discovering music and blues’ and a nine hour session on exploring anxiety.
Marking the breach of the order with 10 extra hours of unpaid work, the judge said: “It seems absolutely plain to me that after a relatively bad start he’s realised the position he’s in and with the help of the probation service and his counsel he has now realised he has got to put his back into it and get it done.”
He noted that Wilson-Perry had recently lost his job as a fork lift truck driver, adding of the setback: “As he’s done the ‘Discovering music: the blues’ course he’s well prepared for that.”
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