John Terry in court to face racism charge

England footballer John Terry called Anton Ferdinand a racist obscenity in response to taunts about his alleged affair with a team-mate's ex-girlfriend, a court heard today. The 31-year-old Chelsea defender allegedly called Ferdinand, who plays for...

England footballer John Terry called Anton Ferdinand a racist obscenity in response to taunts about his alleged affair with a team-mate's ex-girlfriend, a court heard today.

The 31-year-old Chelsea defender allegedly called Ferdinand, who plays for QPR, a "f****** black c***".

Terry is accused of a racially aggravated public order offence during a Premier League match on October 23 last year, which was broadcast to millions of people.

Appearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court today, Terry sat in the dock wearing a light grey suit, white shirt and pink tie.

The court heard that Terry told Ferdinand to "f*** off" and also called him a "f****** knobhead" as the pair exchanged insults.

Opening the prosecution today, Duncan Penny said: "The Crown alleges that the words he used demonstrated hostility based on Mr Ferdinand's membership or presumed membership of a racial group."

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.