Fan jailed for Sterling race attack
A convicted football hooligan has been jailed for a racist attack on Raheem Sterling that left the Manchester City and England forward in a state of “complete shock”.
Karl Anderson, 29, pleaded guilty yesterday to racially aggravated common assault after an unprovoked
attack on Sterling outside City’s training ground last Saturday morning, that was first revealed by The Sunday Telegraph.
Manchester and Salford Magistrates’ Court heard how Anderson, a Manchester United fan who already had 25 convictions for 37 offences, including football-related violence, told Sterling: “I hope your mother and child wake up dead in the morning you n-----,” before kicking the player in the legs four times and leaving him with a sore left hamstring.
Anderson, of Woodward Street in Ancoats, Manchester, had been issued with a five-year banning order in January for his part in clashes with Sheffield United fans in the Shamrock pub in Bengal
Street, Ancoats, 12 months earlier. The ban prevents Anderson from entering Manchester city centre or Old Trafford on match days.
Anderson, wearing a black T-shirt, smiled as he was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison. He was ordered to pay a £115 victim surcharge and £100 in compensation.
The court was shown CCTV of Anderson driving his van alongside Sterling’s car as the player waited to enter City’s CFA training ground on Clayton Lane on Saturday morning, in preparation for the Premier League game against Tottenham that evening.
Both men then got out of their vehicles. Carl Miles, prosecuting, said Anderson, who had been in the vehicle with his partner, began
shouting racial abuse at Sterling and called him “you black Scouse c---”, before kicking the player.
In a victim personal statement, Sterling, 23, said he had been “completely shocked” by the incident.
“I didn’t think this type of behaviour still happened in this country in this day and age,” he said.
Sentencing Anderson, Diana Webb-hobson, chairman of the
bench, said: “This was an entirely unprovoked attack. You stopped your car and you got out. The personal statement was very moving, we find injury was sustained. Your previous record was appalling, you don’t seem to learn anything.”
The court heard that Anderson’s previous offences included throwing a flare at a police officer during a match. Miles said he was subject to a football-related violence banning order which prevented him from attending certain matches.
John Black, defending, said Anderson had lost his temper with Sterling after his girlfriend asked him to ask the footballer for an autograph. “He apologises through me to Mr Sterling for his actions,” he said.