Three Rangers fans fined for sectarian singing

Ryan Maclellan, 17, Brian Robertson, 18, and Gordon Cruickshanks, 29, were also fined £450 each when they appeared for sentence at Livingson Sheriff Court yesterday.

The court heard they were heard singing songs which made reference to the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) which is a proscribed organisation.

Maclellan and Robertson, both from Lesmahagow, South Lanarkshire, and Cruickshank, from Ibrox in Glasgow, had previously denied the charge.

All three pleaded guilty on the morning of their trial last month.

Former co-accused Allan Thompson, 17, from Shotts, North Lanarkshire, was acquitted at an earlier hearing after the Crown accepted his not guilty plea.

They all admitted engaging in behaviour likely to incite pubic disorder in a designated football ground.

They were accused of shouting, swearing and uttering sectarian remarks during a Scottish Championship tie with Livingston FC at the West Lothian club’s Energy Assets Arena.

They were also alleged to have sung offensive and sectarian sings and songs in support of a proscribed terrorist group at the match last October 4 which Rangers won 1-0.

Ryan McIlwraith, 19, of Craigend, Glasgow, maintained his not guilty plea to the charge and will stand trial later.

The Crown amended the complaint against him to allege that he was also singing songs in support of affiliated terrorist groups and making offensive gestures.

Sheriff Douglas Kinloch said he would grant the Crown’s request for the trio to be made subject to a football banning order.