A woman has told a jury she thought she “could have died” when a football supporter fell on to her from the upper tier of a stand during a match at Ipswich Town’s Portman Road ground.
Joanne Peters, who has scoliosis, was injured when 62-year-old John Ryan landed on her during Ipswich Town’s FA Cup tie against Maidstone United in January 2024. Giving evidence at Ipswich Crown Court, she said she initially believed the box behind her had collapsed, and described being left “terrified” by the impact.
“I thought the box behind us had collapsed into us,” Peters told the court tearfully. “It was terrifying… just a really, really scary situation.” She added: “He landed on my shoulder. The pressure of that fall — he could have broken my neck.”
The court heard Peters suffered “elements of whiplash” as well as numbness in her hands and internal bruising. Her partner, Aaron Rose, told the jury he had been kicked in the back of the head.
Ryan, of Rochester Street, Chatham, in Kent, had been among thousands of Maidstone United supporters who watched their non-league club win 2-1. The court heard he was celebrating a goal in the Cobbold Stand upper tier above Peters when he fell, slid down a sloping roof and landed on Ipswich supporters below. He denies one count of assault by beating and one count of actual bodily harm.
Giving his own account, Ryan said the match had been “the biggest match in the club’s history” and that he had been celebrating a “special” goal. “Everyone’s jumping about and you just go where you go,” he said of the celebration. “I don’t know if I bumped somebody or my foot slipped or what; I just ended up going down the stairs. I couldn’t stop myself, my leg hit that wall… I just started tilting over. As I put my arm out I just started rolling over. There’s nothing to hold on to.” The court heard he missed work because of his own injuries to his arm and leg.
Prosecutor Simon Gladwell had earlier told the trial that Ryan had drunk five cans of lager ahead of the match. Asked whether he believed Ryan was drunk, Rose said he did: “I’ve been around drunk people and my assumption is that he was. The way he acted towards stewards after — it wouldn’t take a scientist to work it out.” The prosecution also said two other men went on to the roof at the same time as Ryan but were stopped from going further, and the prosecutor questioned why Ryan had moved towards the roof during the celebration, arguing he had done so purposefully. Ryan rejected that: “No. It wasn’t like that. All I know is that I ended up going down the steps and I couldn’t stop myself. The momentum took me into a roll.”
Ryan had originally been standing trial on two counts of assault by beating, but one has been dropped. The jury has retired to consider its verdicts, and the trial continues.