A former estate agency manager from Sale has admitted to posting a racist comment on social media following the Euro 2020 final.

Andrew Bone, 41, made the post shortly after 11pm on July 11, 2021, using racist language about the England players who failed to convert penalties during the final against Italy at Wembley stadium, namely Bukayo Saka, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford.

Bone removed the comment minutes after posting it, but it had been reposted by others and reported to his employer, Savills.

Members of the public reported Bone's post to the police and he was arrested three days later on July 14.

In interview he claimed that he had been hacked and was not responsible for the comment.

Savills initially suspended Bone while they conducted an investigation but he was later dismissed from the company.

Bone went on to plead not guilty at court and a trial was fixed for October 31 this year.

The investigation continued, uncovering previous social media posts and cell site data which showed the device used to post the comment was in the same location as Bone.

The court granted an application made by the CPS to allow those prior hateful comments on social media to be used as bad character evidence at the trial.

Having seen the strength of the evidence against him, Bone pleaded guilty today (Thursday, November 14) at Manchester Magistrates' Court and will now be sentenced on February 4 next year.

Martin Brogan, senior crown prosecutor for CPS North West said: “Andrew Bone took to social media to post a hateful racist comment, and in doing so, he broke the law.

“He removed the post soon after, but in the meantime the message was reported to his employer by a concerned social media user.

“Bone, thinking he could escape justice, concocted a story that he had been hacked, which he repeated to his employer, the police and the court.

“Today, when faced with the strength of the prosecution case, he eventually admitted that he had posted the comment.

"We want supporters to show their passion without crossing the line into criminality and we're working with football authorities including the Premier League and the Football Association, as well as with clubs and the police, to stamp out all types of offensive behaviour.

“Hateful and offensive comments around our national sport cause a great deal of distress and we stand ready to prosecute whenever so-called fans use racist, hateful or otherwise offensive comments, both in person and online.”