Sky sacks pundit who beat up lover
‘Nasty’ former pro Beagrie guilty of attack
FORMER footballer Peter Beagrie has been sacked by Sky Sports after he was convicted of assaulting his girlfriend.
The ex-Everton and Man City star, 51, who became a TV pundit after retiring in 2006, hit his partner and told her he would “rip her throat out” in a drunken argument.
Beagrie had sunk six glasses of champagne and three gin-and-tonics before a row broke out with girlfriend Zarah Blake.
The former left-winger, described as “volatile and nasty”, punched her “two or three” times with his left fist, a court heard.
Magistrates were told the pair had gone out for a meal together and then went drinking at a bar in Harrogate, North Yorks.
Beagrie said the mood had turned sour in the bar when they started talking about marriage. He said: “A conversation started up on when are we going to get married.
“I said, ‘We both know that’s not going to happen’, and she slapped me across the face. He said Ms Blake had stormed out of the bar. He rang her and found her at M61WOBa friend’s flat.
Beagrie described himself STICKUas “ridiculously upset and angry” but denied assault, saying M62stickup she fell backwards as he tried to lift her up. textWOB. Rt
Witnesses said he shout eadf te art kMicks er Blake, who had a cut lip and bruising to her body, ‘I’m going to rip your f***ing throat out’.
PC Crawford Evans, who was called to the scene, said: “Mr Beagrie was towering over her and appeared to be shouting in her face.
“Miss Blake was visibly upset, she was crying... She said she’d been with Mr Beagrie for two years and, ‘He hits me all the time’.”
At Skipton magistrates court, Beagrie, of Harrogate, was given a 12-month community order and 15 days of rehabilitation.
A Sky Sports spokesman said: “Following the outcome [of the trial], we have terminated his contract with immediate effect.”