A CARLISLE United fan prosecuted for yelling a racial slur at Brunton Park claimed the insult he used was a derogatory term for disabled people.

Christopher Rogerson, 39, yelled the racial insult at a linesman during Carlisle's game against Oxford United at Brunton Park in January, and the words were clearly heard by an off-duty police officer who was sitting nearby, magistrates heard.

The officer’s account - that the insult was linked to race and not disability - was backed up by two more witnesses, including a mother who was at the match with her young daughter and had to console the child.

At Carlisle’s Rickergate court, Rogerson denied using racially aggravated abusive words or behaviour. He was found guilty after magistrates accepted the prosecution evidence.

Prosecutor Graeme Tindall said the offence was committed on January 13 towards the end of Carlisle United’s home game with Oxford United.

The first witness was off-duty police Inspector Andrew Leather, at the game with his young son. He was in the East Stand, close to the half-way line, watching the game with his eight-year-old son.

Carlisle conceded a goal and the home crowd’s frustration was clear, he said. Some fans swore at those involved in the game, which is not uncommon, said Inspector Leather.

Eighty minutes into the game, after an on-pitch incident of some sort, Inspector Leather heard Rogerson yell a derogatory racist comment at the linesman, who was black.

As soon as this happened, a woman he did not know, sitting in front of the defendant, jumped to her feet, turned around, and shouted Oi!” at Rogerson. Mr Tindall asked Inspector Leather what he felt about what Rogerson said.

“It was obviously racist language and not right," said the Inspector.

"I was at a football match with young children. My son turned to look at him as if to say: ‘I’ve just heard something.’ It’s not language that should be heard at a football match, or any other place in society.

“I was alarmed by it.”

Sitting just a metre or so away from Rogerson, Inspector Leather said it could not have been anybody else who yelled that word. After the game, he found a colleague and reported what he had heard and seen.

Questioned by defence lawyer Andrew Gurney, Inspector Leather said he was sure the word used by Rogerson was a racial slur, and not the derogatory reference to a disabled person, as claimed by the defendant.

As a police officer, he knew it was Rogerson because of his voice and his proximity, said the officer.

Rogerson, of Madam Banks Road, Dalston, said he was honest with the police when he was interviewed, claiming that the term he used towards the linesman was a derogatory term for somebody with Down’s syndrome.

Asked if he used that term on a regular basis, he said: “I’m sorry to say I do.” He said he used that term with work colleagues and family members. Asked further about using the word, he said: “It’s been a joke.

“It’s a slang word. They [the people he used it to] know what it means. It’s a slang word I use; I’m ashamed of it.”

The court also heard from defence witness Jamie Foster, a youth football coach who was at the match, and sitting near the defendant. He said there was no excuse for racism at any football match.

He described the atmosphere at the match as “spiky.”

Mr Foster said he knew the defendant, his wife and his brother. Asked if he had ever known the defendant to say anything racist, he replied: “No, not at all.”

He did not hear Rogerson say the racist slur that day, he said. The defendant’s brother also gave evidence, saying that too did not hear the defendant use a racial slur.

Referring to the defendant, Mr Gurney said: “He said [the racial slur] it is not language he would use. He’s not a racist.”

Finding the defendant guilty, the presiding magistrate told Rogerson: “You accept that you were verbally abusive during the match on January 13, inappropriately directing remarks to the linesman.”

The off-duty inspector, sitting just one seat away from Rogerson, “clearly heard” the racist term being shouted by Rogerson.

The woman sitting in front of the defendant was so alarmed she jumped up and shouted a challenge at him, said the magistrate. The magistrates felt the defendant’s brother tried to minimise Rogerson actions.

Mr Gurney said Rogerson was a family man and a person of previous good character, working as a parts advisor for a Carlisle motor dealership. Magistrates fined him £922, with £650 costs and a £368 victim surcharge.

They imposed a four year football banning order, which forbids Rogerson from attending any regulated football match during that period.