Middlesbrough fan banned from every football ground after ripping up Quran

A Middlesbrough fan has become the first female to be banned from every ground in England and Wales after ripping up pages of the Koran on an away day.

Julie Phillips, 51, received the three-year banning order  after the incident which occurred  in the visiting supporters' end during Middlesbrough's 2-2 draw at Birmingham City last december.

Phillips, who already had a lifetime ban from Boro's Riverside Stadium when the incident occurred, said she did not know that the book was a Koran.

Police also said Phillips had caused or contributed to other acts of disorder inside the St. Andrews ground.

It was not the first time that Phillips was involved in a  racially aggravated  row at a football game. A Teeside court heard that she was arrested last year during a different Middlesbrough game after allegedly racially abusing a steward.

And the court also heard that while travelling back from another game, Phillips was drunk and disorderly towards British Transport Police staff.

In May, she was convicted of a religiously aggravated public order offence for the incident and was fined £300.

A steward told magistrates he heard chants about Muslims and the Koran as the book was passed around away fans to tear up pages.

Phillips, who had been drinking, said she had been “making confetti” and only found out it was the Koran when quizzed by police.

But magistrates said there had been “a degree of pre-planning” and Phillips' behaviour was “abusive and insulting”.

After the incident, more than 100  Boro fans from the Red Faction group staged an anti-racism march  .

The solicitor for Cleveland Police, James Langley, demanded the court to impose the ban, insisting that Phillips' case should act as a warning to other football fans.

She described Middlesbrough's  lifetime stadium ban  on her as “very harsh” having supported the club for 40 years.

Phillips has also now lost her job with Middlesbrough council, the court heard.