Rangers fan mauled by police dog at UEFA Cup final is convicted murderer

13 April 2012

A football fan mauled by a police dog during the UEFA Cup final violence has been unveiled as a convicted murderer.

Alexander Aitkenhead, 38, was jailed for life in 1987 after he was found guilty of stabbing his brother-in-law to death in a row about his sister.

The Glasgow Rangers fan was 17 when he was imprisoned. A year was added to his sentence after he attacked a prison officer in 1992 but he was eventually freed last year.

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Taken down: Convicted murderer Alexander Aitkenhead is mauled by a police dog during the UEFA Cup final clashes in Manchester after Glasgow Rangers lost to St Petersburg

Pictures taken during the street violence on Wednesday night after the Rangers-Zenit St Petersburg match in Manchester showed him squaring up to police officers as they desperately tried to contain the riots.

As Mr Aitkenhead pointed in the face of an officer, a police Alsatian lunged at him and sank its teeth into his leg and his hand.

An earlier image captured him and fellow fans cornered by riot police. At the front of the group, he stands with his arms outstretched - a stance he claims was an attempt to calm the stand-off.

He could be sent back to prison if he is found to have violated his licence by committing another offence.

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Casualty: Aitkenhead winces in pain as he is helped away by friends after the Alsation bit him in the arm and leg, leaving him in need of medical treatment

Speaking to the Daily Record, he insists he did nothing wrong after Wednesday's game and that police went too far.

"I was trying to calm the situation down but the police were pumped up and overreacting," he said.

"They released a dog on me for nothing and it really set about me. I've got scars on both legs and the doctor had to dress my hand."

He also told the Sun he had been protecting a friend when he was mauled and that his conviction was irrelevant.

"One of my friends fell and a policeman was about to hit him on the head with his baton. I ran over to stop him," he said.

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Hero: Pc Mark Regan injured his arm when he was attacked by hundreds of Rangers fans

"The dog bit me on the hand and I fell over. It got hold of me by the leg and dragged me off the pavement into the road.

"We weren't causing trouble. The police were totally over the top."

A former prison officer, who knew Mr Aitkenhead, said: "People will be saying 'look at this poor guy who had his leg bitten by a vicious dog'. But let me tell you, he is no poor guy.

"I felt sick when I saw him in the paper. It shows the calibre of people who were involved in this."

Around 150,000 Scottish fans without tickets packed into Manchester city centre to watch Rangers play Zenit St Petersburg in the Uefa cup final on big screens.

But when one screen broke down minutes before kick-off, supporters turned on the police. The violence increased after 10pm when it became clear that Rangers had lost the game.

PC Mike Regan, who was pursued by a baying mob of drunken fans, says he probably owes his life to a former soldier who stepped in to rescue him.

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Stand-off: Aitkenhead holds back fans after they are cornered by riot police

The officer was caught by a group of thugs as he tried to help a colleague in the pitched battles.

CCTV footage showed him stumbling away from the group before falling and being repeatedly kicked and stamped on. He then struggled to his feet - only to be confronted by two more men.

To his relief, one of them - now known to be Tom Bardsley - announced 'I'm British Army' and propelled him away from the rampaging mob.

Yesterday PC Regan, a former Territorial Army corporal himself, saluted the "real life superhero" he credits with saving him from being seriously injured or even killed.

Nursing an injured arm and badly bruised ribs, he also spoke of his terror as he was set upon by more than 30 fans.

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Nightmare: Pc Regan is attacked by the yob, he falls to the ground and is almost overwhelmed before getting to his feet and running off

"From the outset we were bombarded with bottles and cans," PC Regan said. "I saw one of my colleagues being attacked by six or seven fans and I went to help him.

"Then a lad with a bottle threw it at me from a distance of about three or four feet and it hit me on the left elbow. "I remember moving backwards to try to avoid being hit again but next thing I was on the floor. My initial reaction was 'We're in trouble here' and I saw that I was on my own.

"I could feel the crowd kicking me in the side but my body armour was protecting me. I wanted to curl up but I remember saying to myself 'I have got to get up'.

"I managed to, but I'd lost my baton and had nothing to defend myself with. I think I must have been winded because I couldn't run properly."

It was then that two men stepped out of the shadows and headed towards him.

Hero: Former soldier Tom Bardsley rescued Pc Regan before saving two other people caught up in the violence and stopping a police van being looted

"He grabbed me by the collar and he propelled me up the street. Then one of our vans came round the corner, he threw me in the back of it and off he went. Thank God.

"If they had not come along at that point I'd have been in big trouble. I'd have been seriously injured. Whoever that Army lad was, he wants a medal.

"I cannot thank him enough. He was like a knight in shining armour - a real life superhero. Without him God knows what could have happened."

PC Regan, of Offerton in Stockport, received cuts and bruises in the attack as well as a painful puncture wound to his elbow.

His rescuer Mr Bardsley, 23, who had served in the 26 Engineer Regiment at Bulworth Garrison but is now a trainee manager for Dominos Pizzas, has now come forward.

Of the moment he stepped in to help, he said: "I saw the man running towards him who was aiming to give him a kick and I gave him a hard nudge and clobbered him.

"I then grabbed the policeman by his collar and dragged him away and threw him into a police van. As I pulled him away I told him that I was a British Army medic to reassure him."

Mr Bardsley said he had served in a number of war zones and had been given full riot training, but he had witnessed nothing like the scenes that greeted him.

"I would describe it as wolves who had not been fed for days. I did not think of any danger to me just the safety of others and making sure everyone was getting out OK," he said.

"I knew that if no-one was going to get him (the officer) he wasn't going to make it. I thought 'sod it' I did not care that bottles and bricks were being thrown at me. The adrenaline just kicked in."

It was the first in a series of heroics for the father-of-one, from Openshaw, Greater Manchester.

Shortly after the dramatic escape, he helped a water rescue team save a Rangers fan who had fallen into a canal by tying a rope around a post.

Later he spotted an unconscious man's arm poking out from the seas of rubbish left across the city. Without thinking, he hauled the casualty over his shoulder and sprinted 150 metres to a nearby ambulance.

Finally, he came across a police riot van being looted by two supporters who were helping themselves to equipment including high-visibility jackets and helmets. He chased them away and then slammed shut the open back doors.

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It was not until he was called by police the following day and told of the CCTV coverage of him rescuing PC Regan that he realised quite how extraordinary a night he had had.

Mr Bardsley went to Longsight Police Station, where PC Regan was based, to check on his condition and was thanked by a police superintendent but the pair still have yet to meet.

"My ambition is to work in either the ambulance service or the police force. The superintendent told me if I have ever applied in his area he would give me a job straightaway," he said.

In total, 15 police officers were injured during the violence and 42 arrests made.

Seven Rangers fans were charged with public order offences, one with assault, one with being drunk in a sports ground and one with throwing a missile.

An investigation has been ordered into why the event descended into violence.

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