Image Text:

RACIALLY ABUSED: Andy Cole (PA)

TWO MEN who were found guilty of being involved in drunken disorder and racially abusing ex-Manchester United striker Andy Cole on a plane will have to wait to learn their fate after sentencing was adjourned.

Yesterday’s (Jan 20) delay at Manchester Minshull Street Crown comes due to Irish police refusing to verbally provide information to the court concerning the previous convictions of Lee Patrick Byrne, 28, from Dublin, and Gregory Horan, 26, of no fixed address.

Earlier this month at Trafford Magistrates Court, Byrne pleaded guilty to a racially aggravated public order offence and drunken disorder on an aircraft, while Horan entered a guilty plea to being drunk on the same flight.

The incident took place on December 29 when Cole, 42, was travelling on an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Manchester.

Judge Leslie Hull has adjourned sentencing until March 3, and prosecutor Lisa Boocock said the court should expect to receive the pair’s criminal records by January 29 or possibly longer.

Cole, the Premier League’s second highest scorer of all-time, has so far not commented on the racial abuse to which he was subjected.