Former Blackburn Rovers academy player - who starred for 9 Lancashire clubs - to be deported from Australia

Jay Hart, who came through the academy ranks at Blackburn Rovers, made national headlines in 2015 when he was filmed at Clitheroe FC in the inappropriate act while wearing the team’s kit.

Now the 34-year-old journeyman is awaiting imminent deportation from Australia back to the UK after two Melbourne women successfully petitioned the immigration minister to boot him out of the country.

Hart was subject of two intervention orders taken out by Sarah Fardy and Cara Greedy who both met Hart via dating apps. The former Longridge Town and Rossendale United striker was also convicted of multiple assaults and had two intervention orders taken out against him by women in Melbourne.

Hart, who has been living in Australia since 2020 on a student visa, most recently played for Sydenham Park Football Club in Melbourne but his registration was cancelled after Ms Fardy notified the club of his behaviour.

Ms Fardy claimed that Hart became obsessive and possessive, moving into her house before insisting on driving and dropping her at work every day, even escorting her on interstate work trips. Ms Fardy reported him to Victoria Police when he threatened self-harm. “I told them my partner is suicidal, he’s pulled a knife and he’s threatening to take sleeping tablets every time I ask him to leave the house and give me some space,” she said.

A police background check revealed the horrifying reality of the dangers posed to women by Hart. “... (The officer) comes back and goes, ‘you’re in danger, do not go home, you have to stay at a friend’s house,” Ms Fardy said, after learning of his assault convictions.

She added: “Police had to come around to my house for a tech sweep. They checked my phone. He tried to mirror my phone three times to mirror his phone, and they found a tracking device in his name hidden in my car.” “Women deserve to feel safe,” Ms Fardy and Ms Greedy said in a statement. “We deserve to be heard and we deserve to see justice when it is due.”

Emotional phonecall In a video posted on social media earlier this week, Ms Fardy broke down in tears after Hart’s deportation was delivered to her personally via a phonecall from Mr Burke. “Sorry for everything you have been through,” he can be heard saying. “The department set up the file for me to consider the Visa status (of Hart) which arrived at my office yesterday. At 5.20 yesterday I cancelled his Visa. “And last night when I sent you the text message, that was to let you know Border Force had arrived at his home to place him in detention.”

Hart, who also played for Colne, Ramsbottom United, Padiham and Nelson, before a spell in Bhutan’s national football league, is currently detained in immigration detention and will be on the next flight back to the UK.

“Last week a brave Australian woman was in touch with my office, expressing concern about the likely threat to other women caused by the continued presence in Australia of a visa holder from the UK,” Mr Burke told the Lancashire Post. “I have clear powers to cancel someone’s visa if I believe there is a risk they will harass, molest, intimidate or stalk people in Australia. This government has no tolerance for the perpetrators of family and domestic violence. There are many good people trying to come to Australia who I already have to say no to. We do not need this man here, he can leave.”

Clitheroe FC incident In 2015, Hart made national headlines when he was caught having sex in the manager’s dugout with a female supporter wearing his Clitheroe FC shirt following a 4-1 defeat to Mossley AFC. The clip was posted to social media and he was subsequently sacked by the club and dumped by his then girlfriend Bryony Hibbert - mother of his two children - who branded his behaviour “a disgusting act.”

He said he was ridiculed in the street. "At my lowest point I thought about ending my life a few times," the Accrington native told BBC Sport.