Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - Chelsea striker Sam Kerr has been found not guilty of causing racially aggravated harassment, after calling a Metropolitan Police officer "stupid and white".
A jury at Kingston Crown Court cleared her in relation to an incident in
Twickenham, south-west London, on 30 January 2023.
Ms Kerr, 31, said she was "antagonised" by officers after she
was taken to a police station by a taxi driver following a dispute.
The Australian international, who made the comments to PC Stephen
Lovell, did not deny using the words "stupid and white" but denied it
amounted to a racial offence.
Ms Kerr was cleared by the jury after it deliberated for four hours.
After the verdict was returned, Ms Kerr gave a thumbs-up to her legal
team before leaving the courtroom with her fiancée Kristie Mewis.
Ms Kerr and Ms. Mewis had been out drinking when they were driven to
Twickenham Police Station by a taxi driver who complained that they had refused
to pay clean-up costs after one of them was sick and that one of them had
smashed the vehicle's rear window.
Judge Peter Lodder KC said: "I take the view her own behaviour
contributed significantly to the bringing of this allegation.
"I don't go behind the jury's verdict but that has a significant
bearing on the question of costs."
During the trial, Ms. Kerr said she regretted the way she expressed
herself but added: "I feel the message was still relevant".
She denied using whiteness as an insult and claimed: "I believed it
was him using his power and privilege over me because he was accusing me of
being something I'm not.
"I was trying to express that due to the power and privilege they
had, they would never have to understand what we had just gone through and the
fear we were having for our lives."
It can now be reported that Ms Kerr's legal team attempted to get the
case thrown out at a preliminary hearing, arguing there had been an abuse of
process by crown prosecutors.
Ms Kerr's lawyer Grace Forbes said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)
had violated its own guidance, adding that a "loophole" in the
victims' right of review scheme was used to justify prosecution proceedings a
year after the alleged offence.
During the trial, it was put to PC Lovell that he only provided a
statement alleging that Ms Kerr's comments had caused "alarm or
harassment" after that decision.
In his first statement to the CPS, the officer made no mention of the
"stupid and white" comment having an impact on him, the jury was
told.
A second statement from PC Lovell was provided in December 2023,
mentioning the alleged impact.
He read a section of the statement to the court, which said the comments made him "shocked, upset, and (left) me feeling humiliated".
The charge was authorised later in December 2023, almost a year aft
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