(Image: Contributed)
Five men, four from County Durham, will stand trial over events leading up to and after the driving of a hearse onto a football pitch.
The case follows not guilty pleas from all five at Newcastle Crown Court on Friday, (October 23).
Darren Kay, 31, of Chester-le-Street, Graeme Rutherford, 54, of Birtley, and John Wright, 42, of Tow Law, appeared in the court dock.
Co-defendants Iain Boddy, 44, formerly of Auckland Park, Bishop Auckland, and Carl Barron, 43, of Grange Villa, appeared by video link from Holme House and Durham prisons respectively.
The infamous incident when a hearse was driven onto the pitch at half-time in a pre-season friendly football fixture between Dunston UTS and Gateshead, on July 21, 2023 (Image: Contributed)
Wright, Barron and Rutherford denied two counts of conspiracy to damage property, in Dunston and Byker, on Tyneside, between June and July 2023.
The same three and Barron also denied conspiring to make threats to kill, between July 5 and 22, 2023.
Wright, Barron and Boddy denied conspiring to steal a Citroen C4 between July 6 and 11, 2023.
Boddy also denied taking part in the activities of an organised crime group, between June 17 and November 7, 2023.
One alleged incident took place during the half-time interval at a football match between Dunston UTS and Gateshead at Dunston’s Wellington Road ground on Friday, July 21, 2023.
Two cars, one of them a black funeral limousine and the other a silver Subaru, were driven onto the pitch and leaflets containing threats to named individuals were scattered across the playing surface by two masked individuals.
It led to the abandonment of the pre-season friendly fixture.
After the not guilty pleas at today's hearing, all parties agreed on a start date for a trial, estimated to last four weeks, on November 1 next year.
Judge Gavin Doig also ordered a further case-management hearing at the court on January 28 and a pre-trial review on October 4.
The judge told the defendants to submit their signed defence statements to the court by January 22 before adjourning the hearing.