Comedy footballer 'banned from England plane to Brazil'
As the England football team headed off to the World Cup they almost had an extra man on board their plane today - a "footballer" from a comedy TV show.
Jason Bent, a creation of comic Simon Brodkin, mingled with the players after they got off the team bus before boarding their plane to Miami at Luton Airport.
"Bent" was clad in a matching smart suit and tie and his presence first baffled then amused the England players as they waited to go inside the terminal before heading off to two warm up games, then the World Cup in Brazil.
Security and police swiftly spotted that there was an interloper and he was led away "struggling" and clutching his passport.
Later "Bent" tweeted: "Gutted Roy wouldn't let me on the plane to Brazil. I don't know what to tell the Malaysian betting syndicate now..."
Last year Brodkin was given a conditional caution at North Liverpool Community Justice Centre after he duped security at a Premier League match and limbered up alongside star players.
In the stunt, before Manchester City's game at Everton on March 16, 2013, Brodkin dressed as Bent, with blond highlights, shark-fin haircut and designer stubble, to blend in with the likes of England's Joe Hart and Gareth Barry ahead of kick-off.
The qualified doctor, who has his own sketch show on BBC Three, was later charged with going on to the playing area, contrary to the Football Offences Act.
The charge was withdrawn and Brodkin was issued with a six-month conditional caution.The Jason Bent character is Brodkin's take on the bling lifestyle enjoyed by professional footballers.
He appears in BBC Three's Lee Nelson's Well Good Show, which Brodkin hosts and stars in.Nelson, a South London tearaway, is another of his characters