A teenager has avoided jail after stealing items from Wembley Stadium to give fans unauthorised access during the Euro 2020 final.
Yusaf Amin worked as a steward at the stadium, but he stole official lanyards, hi-vis jackets, and wristbands, and offered them for sale online for a total of £4,500.
Amin, 18, cried in the dock at Willesden Magistrates’ Court on Monday as he was sentenced to six months in a young offenders’ institute – but the term was suspended for a year.
He was also ordered to pay £213 in legal costs, complete 200 hours of unpaid work, and go to an attendance centre.
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Tickets for the Euro 2020 final between England and Italy on 11 July were hot property and hundreds of people tried to storm the ground before the match after failing to get in.
But a Facebook marketplace account appeared at 3pm on the day of the game, advertising the items and “guaranteed entry”.
Amin had arranged to meet buyers at an Aldi supermarket before he was caught and arrested.
An online post from him read: “Steward pass available x2 with uniforms and pass and I’m outside Wembley, anyone wans (sic) to get in. I have two passes and two uniforms and wristbands for you to go in and watch the game.
“Looking for serious people only. Guaranteed entry or money back.”
Amin, of Newham, east London, pleaded guilty last month to theft via postal requisition.
District Judge Denis Brennan told him: “You would have been aware of the concerns about fans getting in the ground – if you can call them fans – following the (semi-final) game against Denmark.
“Yet there you were offering out hi-vis jackets, accreditation passes and wristbands allowing someone to get into the game, putting at risk the security and the safety of other fans within the ground.”
Mr Brennan spoke of accepting Amin’s claim that he was trying to raise money for his mother.
The judge also commended the woman who had reported Amin to the police, saying: “Instead of acting out of pure greed by going and buying the ticket, she acted with good public spirit and contacted the police.
“Without people like her acting in such a publicly-spirited way, I don’t know the guilt you would have felt if someone had gotten into the ground and had behaved badly.”
Another 18-year-old has been charged with similar offences but pleaded not guilty and will go on trial at Willesden Magistrates’ Court on 17 December.