Highs and lows of life off the pitch
Ferdinand and Terry during the game to the court. He did not racially abuse Mr Ferdinand and the court accepted this.”
Legal experts estimated Terry would have spent £100,000 to engage a top QC and solicitors to fight the charge. In court, chief magistrate Howard Riddle cleared him of a racially aggravated public order offence during a vicious verbal exchange with Ferdinand.
Terry was accused of calling Ferdinand a “******* black (c-word)” during a Premier League game last October. Mr Riddle said the case was not about “whether Mr Terry is a racist in the broadest sense of the word”. He said he had heard a great deal of evidence to show that he is not.
Explaining his verdict, Mr Riddle said there was “no doubt” that Terry uttered the words. He added: “When he did so he was angry. Mr Ferdinand says he did not precipitate this comment by himself, accusing Mr Terry of calling him a black (c-word).
“Even with all the help the court has received, it is impossible to be sure exactly what were the words spoken by Mr Terry at the relevant time. It is impossible to be sure exactly what was said to him at the relevant time by Mr Ferdinand.
“It is not only that all of this happened in a matter of seconds. For a small part of the relevant time the AWAY from the pitch John Terry has been constantly in the media spotlight – often for all the wrong reasons.
In 2001 he was one of a number of Chelsea players involved in a drinking session at a Heathrow airport hotel on the day after the 9/11 attacks, and was accused of behaving offensively towards American tourists.
The club fined the players involved, including Terry, two weeks’ wages, and the cash was camera’s view of Mr Terry was obstructed.
“We do not have a clear camera view of Mr Ferdinand, sufficient to pick up exactly what he said.
“No matter how serious the incident looks now, and how crucial the exact wording is now, at the time it was secondary to the key witnesses. They are professional footballers. donated to a fund set up for the victims of the attacks.
The following year Terry was involved in ugly scenes at a nightclub, but was later cleared of a charge of hitting a bouncer.
At other times Terry’s personal life was happy and successful.
In 2006, Toni Poole, his partner, gave birth to twins Georgie John and Summer Rose.
A year later, the couple married in a star- studded ceremony at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire. In They would naturally concentrate on the game more than on exactly what had been said to them or by them.”
He went on: “It is a crucial fact that nobody has given evidence that they heard what Mr Terry said or more importantly how he said it.”
Ferdinand, 27, the brother of Manchester United defender Rio, was yesterday on a plane to Malaysia 2009 Terry was named Dad of the Year by Daddies Sauce after coming top of a public poll.
In December that year Terry was in the news again after allegations he took secret cash payments to lay on a behind-the- scenes tour of the Chelsea’s training ground, a claim denied by the club.
And in January 2010, it was alleged that he had an affair with Vanessa Perroncel, a former girlfriend of teammate Wayne Bridge. with his QPR teammates. His parents Julian and Janice, who attended every day of the trial, declined to comment as they left the court.
Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck said outside the court: “We are pleased that John can now put his mind to football and go back to training.”