Abused Derby County fan's family to donate funds to charity

The father of a vulnerable football supporter who was verbally abused in a video is to donate money collected to a charity that cares for his son.

The film showed Charlie Harrison, 23, being taunted by a Nottingham Forest supporter for wearing a Derby County shirt.

His father Stuart described the video as "shocking" but said his son had not been affected by it.

Supporters of both teams condemned the video and about £1,000 has been raised.

The abuse is being treated as a hate crime by police and Nottingham Forest said it was "sickened" by the footage.

The video, which Stuart Harrison said appeared to have been made a year ago, was circulated on social media ahead of Derby County's 0-0 draw with Nottingham Forest on Monday.

It showed Charlie, who has a severe form of epilepsy, being confronted outside a shop in Nottingham city centre.

The unknown cameraman tells him he should not be wearing the rival team's shirt in the city and the 23-year-old is then urged to repeat an offensive nickname used by some Forest fans for Derby supporters.

"It was a bit shocking to start, we were concerned someone has actually just videoed [Charlie]," Mr Harrison said.

"We quite soon worked out it was a year ago, so we knew it wasn't recent and Charlie wasn't affected by it.

"What on earth was this person doing for a year with this on his phone?"

Mr Harrison said he would buy a football kit for his son and would also be donating some of the money raised to Derby charity Umbrella, which looks after Charlie when he is not at college.

The charity said it was "very grateful", but declined to comment further.

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