Man jailed for racially assaulting Raheem Sterling

Raheem Sterling

MANCHESTER,  England  -A convicted football hooligan has been jailed for 16 weeks after he admitted racially assaulting Manchester City and England footballer Raheem Sterling.

Karl Anderson, 29, of  Manchester who pleaded guilty to racially aggravated common assault in the Manchester and Salford Magistrates’ Court last week, was also ordered  to pay one hundred pounds in compensation.

Television footage of the attack outside City’s training complex was played to the court, which showed Anderson pulling up in his van alongside Sterling as the Jamaica-born player waited to enter the  training ground.

Both men then got out of their vehicles and Anderson walked towards Sterling.

The  court  heard  that Anderson kicked Sterling four times during the assault and shouted  racial abuse at  him.

In a victim impact statement read out to the court, Sterling, 23, said he “did not think this kind of behaviour happened in this country in this day and age”.

In sentencing Anderson, magistrate Diana Webb-Hobson called it an “entirely unprovoked attack” and described Anderson’s previous record as “appalling.”

Anderson already had 25 convictions for 37 offences, including football-related violence.

He was given a five-year football banning order earlier this year after violence at a pub before Manchester United’s FA Cup home match against Sheffield United in January last year.