Man who sent racist social media message to footballer banned from all games
By Jenny Garnsworthy, PA
A man who sent a “vile and disgusting” racist message to a professional footballer on social media has been banned from attending any matches for three years, police said.
Harry Dunbar, 20, from Fareham, Hampshire, sent racial slurs via Instagram to Christopher Wreh, following an FA Cup match between Tamworth and Tottenham Hotspur on January 12th.
When interviewed by police, Dunbar admitted sending the message because he had lost a bet, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said.
Police said Wreh had come on as a substitute for Tamworth in the game.
When he later checked his Instagram, he found he had received a message from an account he did not know called “Dunztagram”.
Shocked, he posted a screenshot of the message including the username and then shared it on his social media.
“After an amazing day today, this is the last thing I expected to see when I opened Instagram,” he wrote in the post.
“Nevertheless, thank you for all the support today. Fans were unreal.”
This post was viewed more than 1.7 million times, and Wreh was contacted and sent personal messages by others who identified the account holder as Dunbar, who was living in Hampshire at the time.
Wreh shared this with the dedicated football officer (DFO) for Tamworth at Staffordshire Police, who then passed this on to the UK Football Policing Unit and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary’s dedicated Football Unit.
Dunbar, in Whiteley, was arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated malicious communications and his phone was seized.
Although the Instagram account had been removed, it was identified that he was the owner of the “Dunztagram’ account”.
In interview he then admitted sending the message because he had lost a bet.
Dunbar was sentenced at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, where he was handed a three-year football banning order, a 12-month community order of 200 hours unpaid work, and 10 rehabilitation activity requirement days.
Superintendent Adrian Hall, head of the operations unit for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, said: “Just because Christopher Wreh was a footballer, Dunbar decided he had the right to send him a tirade of racist insults.
“Nobody should ever be subjected to such vile and disgusting abuse, regardless of what they do for a living.
“I am absolutely appalled by the racist language used by Dunbar, but immensely thankful to Christopher Wreh for his bravery in standing up to this horrible abuse and assisting the police investigation.
“Thanks to Christopher, this man will not have the privilege of going to football matches and that is an important result from this case, as racism doesn’t belong in football stadiums or anywhere else in society.”
The Football Banning Order means Dunbar, of John Bunyan Close, is banned from every football ground in the country and unable to travel abroad when international games are happening for a period of three years.