A FOOTBALL hooligan who attacked a fellow England supporter at the Euro 2024 was tracked down using facial recognition tech.
Josh Waugh, 34, broke his victim’s nose and jaw following the Three Lions’ match against Serbia on June 16 in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.
A witness took a photo of him and gave it to policem who tracked him down using Retrospective Facial Recognition Technology (RFR) and mass messaging app SOLV, The Times reports.
It is the first time the technology has been used at an overseas tournament.
Cheshire Police, the UK Football Policing Unit, and German officers collaborated to track down Waugh.
The picture was used in a witness appeal issued using SOLV.
It got more than 54,000 hits and aided the police investigation into Waugh.
He appeared at Middlesbrough magistrates’ court on Wednesday and got a three-year banning order.
German police have not yet taken any action against him.
Chief constable for Cheshire and the head of UK Football Policing, Mark Roberts, said: “This is the first time that we have used this type of technology at overseas tournaments, but as the results demonstrate it can make a real difference.
“Thousands of people attend football matches every week, many of them travelling long distances, so trying to identify and locate a suspect on the ground can sometimes be difficult.
“However, systems such RFR and SOLV allow us to identify offenders even when they’re hundreds of miles away, so we can ensure that those who do offend are arrested and held accountable for their actions.”
