King jailed for nightclub attack

29 October 2009 16:49
Marlon King has been jailed for 18 months for groping a young woman in a nightclub and then breaking her nose after she spurned his "disgusting" advances.[LNB] The Wigan striker, who was celebrating both his wife's pregnancy and scoring a winning goal hours earlier, was repeatedly "cold-shouldered" by women revellers in London's packed Soho Revue Bar last December.[LNB] When a slightly-built university student became the latest to recoil from his touch, he lost his temper and in an outburst of "completely gratuitous violence" lashed out, "smashing" her to the floor.[LNB] His single clenched fist blow was so powerful that two other revellers - one of them holding on to his arm - were also sent flying.[LNB] While bouncers moved in to restrain the muscular £5 million striker, friends rushed to the aid of his victim.[LNB] As she was helped to her feet, blood poured from her shattered nose, London's Southwark Crown Court heard.[LNB] The 29-year-old claimed he was a victim of "mistaken identity".[LNB] But after hearing overwhelming evidence from a string of witnesses, including a football coach who insisted he was the assailant, the jury decided he was lying.[LNB] He was unanimously convicted of sexually assaulting the 20-year-old and causing actual bodily harm.

Source: Eurosport