Three Rangers fans have been jailed for a sectarian attack on a Celtic supporter outside Ibrox after the Scottish Cup quarter-final in March, which left him with a bleed on the brain.

Scott Dragsness, 55, was sentenced to 18 months at Glasgow Sheriff Court yesterday, while Ben Stanex, 24, and Andrew Graham, 21, were each given 12 months, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service confirmed.

All three were also handed seven-year football banning orders, which bar them from every ground in the UK and from travelling to support any team.

Kick-off, TV and form for the Glasgow derby are all in one place.

Dragsness and Stanex are from Belfast and Graham is from Dundonald. They had pleaded guilty to assault to severe injury and danger of life, and prosecutors described it as a hate crime motivated by religious prejudice. 

Left unconscious in the road

The 48-year-old victim was trying to board a Celtic supporters’ bus on Sunday 8 March, after Celtic had won the tie on penalties, when he was knocked to the ground and then kicked and stamped on.

He was left unconscious in the road and taken to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, where scans found a bleed on the brain.

A police drone monitoring fans leaving Ibrox filmed the whole attack, and a driver stuck in traffic near the bus recorded it too. The three men were identified and arrested soon after.

Sheriff Andrew McIntyre said: “Such was the ferocity of the attack that he lost consciousness and was seriously injured.” He added: “I have concluded that only a prison sentence can mark the seriousness of this crime.”

Fraser Gibson, the procurator fiscal for Glasgow and Strathkelvin, said the victim had been “subjected to mindless sectarian thuggery” by men who were visitors to the city.

“Football-related violence is a blight on Scotland’s communities. It will not be tolerated,” he said.

Superintendent Derrick Johnston of Police Scotland said: “This was a brutal attack and I am in no doubt that this will affect the victim for the rest of his life.”

Second case from that afternoon

It is the second case from 8 March to come before the courts in a week. Rangers supporter Marc Spence was remanded in custody last week after admitting assaulting Celtic first-team masseur Allan Baird during the pitch invasion, as we reported. He will be sentenced once background reports are complete.

The attack on the supporter happened outside the ground and is a criminal case, separate from the football authorities’ view of what went on inside it.

On that, Celtic are still waiting for the appellate tribunal’s verdict on the Scottish FA sanctions over the pitch invasion, which include playing their next home Scottish Cup tie behind closed doors. The appeal was heard on Monday, and no outcome had been published by this morning.