Footballer King jailed for sexual assault and punching woman

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An English Premier League footballer has been jailed for sexual assault after groping and then punching a woman while out celebrating both scoring a goal and his wife’s latest pregnancy.

Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith summed up the night’s events. “You approached those young women who wanted nothing to do with you. You touched them on their faces and, as the jury have just found by their verdict, touched the complainant on her backside in a way that amounted to a sexual assault,” she told the court. “Although they and others told you politely and firmly to leave her alone you weren’t prepared to be ignored. Your response was to boast you were a multi-millionaire and to say that the complainant was not in your league. “You broke her nose, and that can still just be seen, and you cut her lip. You are 29, you are just over six feet tall and you are a professional footballer. She is a comparatively slight woman, just over five feet tall.” Five days before the assault, King was banned from driving for 56 days following a speeding offence. The player has had a controversial career, having received an 18-month jail sentence in 2002 for handling a stolen car which was reduced to nine months on appeal. Prosecuting lawyer Roger Daniells-Smith said that King had been in court on seven previous occasions since the age of 17, PA reported.