DUP councillor's son breaches terms of his community service

Aaron Fielding (22), of Cromlech Park, Portstewart, is the son of Mark Fielding who sits on Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council.

Aaron Fielding was given a Community Service Order in November 2015 for being disorderly in Portstewart in a non-football related incident.

At Coleraine Magistrates Court on Monday, Fielding’s solicitor Derwin Harvey accepted there had been a breach but said 128 hours out of 150 have been completed.

District Judge Liam McNally adjourned the case until later this month and said he wants a report including confirmation that Fielding has completed the Community Service.

Fielding was not in the courtroom on Monday but was in the courthouse.

A prosecutor told the court in 2015 that police saw Fielding sitting on a footpath in Portstewart with no top on at 1.55 in the morning and he was very drunk and was shouting loudly.

He had a cut to his eye and said he had been assaulted. While attempting to leave, he told police he was going to find the person who attacked him and “assault him back” and continued to be disorderly.

Mr Harvey told that court Fielding, a chef, was out with work colleagues.

The solicitor said the group were outside a chip shop and a male was being aggressive and attacked Fielding because he was the smallest in the group, causing a fractured rib and a scar on his face.

He said Fielding was arrested because he wouldn’t calm down, but added that “having had seven bells knocked out of him he was rather agitated”.

Fielding was also in court last August and was given a jail warning and banned from following Coleraine FC for four years after pleading guilty to his latest act of football hooliganism.

He admitted a charge of disorderly behaviour which occurred when a mob of up to 50 Coleraine fans confronted Linfield supporters after a dramatic league game.

Fielding was at the front of the gang which was spotted by police moving towards an exit at Coleraine Showgrounds where Linfield fans were leaving on Saturday February 20, 2016.

Coleraine had been beating Linfield 2-0 in a league game but dramatically lost 3-2 with the winner coming just six minutes from the end.

A prosecutor told that court police were on duty at the Coleraine versus Linfield match and at 4.55pm as the game ended they spotted around 40-50 Coleraine supporters approaching the Linfield exit.

The Coleraine fans were shouting abuse at Linfield supporters and at the head of the group Fielding was “highly agitated, aggressive and hostile”.

He was warned by police he would be arrested if he didn’t calm down but continued to shout abuse and ran towards Linfield fans in an “aggressive stance” with his arms out and fists clenched which the prosecutor said provoked some Linfield supporters to run across the road towards him.

Judge McNally told Fielding last summer: “You have a bad record and it appears when you get to football matches you lose all sense”.

At that time he imposed a four months jail term suspended for two years and banned Fielding from following Coleraine FC for four years.

As part of the Football Banning Order Fielding is not allowed to be within a mile of any ground when Coleraine are playing and he is also banned from being within one mile of Coleraine Showgrounds from two hours before until two hours after any game.

In April 2015 Fielding was given a one year conditional discharge when he admitted a charge of disorderly behaviour in connection with an Irish League game between Coleraine and rivals Ballymena.

Ballymena Magistrates Court was told there was tension between rival sets of football fans after they exited a big Boxing Day derby at Ballymena Showgrounds Stadium in 2014.

Police were observing around 200 rival fans on opposite sides of the road in the Broughshane Street area and Fielding was taunting opposition supporters by shouting abuse at them and also police.

Fielding was also previously in court for disorderly behaviour and resisting police which arose from his yobbish behaviour after a Coleraine versus Shamrock Rovers Setanta Cup game in Coleraine in 2013 which had landed him a £300 fine