A father-of-three football fan who was jailed for running onto a pitch and punching England star Jack Grealish has been found dead.
Birmingham City fan Paul Mitchell attacked Grealish at St Andrew’s Stadium when he was playing for Aston Villa before being dragged off the pitch in March 2019.
The 32-year-old, who was jailed for 14 weeks but let out after serving four, was discovered at a property in Birmingham earlier this week, reported The Sun.
Mr Mitchell’s cousin Lucy Mitchell told the newspaper: ‘Paul absolutely adored his three children. He always had a smile on his face no matter what.
‘He had the kindest heart. He is sadly going to be missed by a lot of people. He was a very popular man. It won’t be the same without him here anymore.’
She also said that other people saw him on Saturday when he seemed his ‘happy normal self’. His mother Debbie Drew told the Sun: ‘Our family loved him so much.’
And his friend Ash Herbert wrote on Facebook: ‘Absolutely gutted mate. We had some mad childhood memories I will cherish for the rest of my life. Rest easy, one of my best old friends mate… till we meet again.’
Mr Mitchell was sent to prison again in September last year for 12 weeks for breaching a ten-year football ban when he attended Birmingham’s game against West Bromwich Albion and ran onto the running track to celebrate a goal.
When Mr Mitchell was jailed at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court soon after the Grealish attack in 2019, it was revealed that his pregnant wife and two-year-old child had fled their home over ‘death threats’ made against him.
Mr Mitchell, who had been a season ticket holder at Birmingham and a fan for 20 years, carried out the assault ‘as a joke’ because he thought the footballer ‘was a kn*b’, the court was told at the time.
