Last Palace train thugs found guilty

The attack took place on a British Rail train before the football clash between the two south London sides at Selhurst Park in September 2007.

Clive Taylor, 35, and 40-year-old Carl Thomas, both of Thornton Heath, were found guilty, alongside Ashley White, 21, of Purley, and Darren Bush, 39, of South Norwood.

Robert Kennett, 46, of Wandsworth, and 38-year-old Andrew Spicer of Ashford in Kent, both pleaded guilty to assault at the beginning of the three-week trial.

All six are due to be sentenced on December 5. A seventh man was discharged.

The incident took place at Sydenham Station at 2:20pm when the Palace supporters boarded two carriages full of Charlton fans and began a series of random attacks.

British Transport Police arrested the group in a number of dawn raids in November last year.

BTP Detective Inspector Keith Bennett said: "A 24-year-old Charlton fan suffered a broken nose in the incident.

"Several other passengers were head-butted, punched and verbally abused during the fracas.

"Members of the travelling public, including law abiding football fans, have the right to travel in safety on match days.

"The violence that ordinary members of the public were subjected to on the day in question was utterly appalling.

"These final guilty verdicts are a pleasing end to a year-long investigation."

Charlton Athletic's operations director, Mick Everett, said: "There is no place in football, nor indeed in society, for violent individuals such as these, and the BTP should be applauded for the thorough and professional investigation that they carried out over a lengthy period of time."

In March and April of this year, ten others pleaded guilty of the attacks and were each given sentences of between 24 and 40 months.

They were also banned from attending football matches for between six and 10 years and banned from travelling on trains on any day that England or Crystal Palace are playing.