Posted by LondonBlue
on October 29, 2009, 5:40 pm, in reply to "Or, alternatively"
This might have something to do with the sentence .....
Marlon King's convictions today for sexual assault and actual bodily harm are simply the latest from a long list of court appearances stretching back 12 years.
London's Southwark Crown Court heard that since the age of 17 the Jamaica international has found himself in the dock on no less than seven previous occasions involving 13 offences.
They feature dishonesty, drink driving and other motoring offences, and violence against women.
Only one, receiving a stolen £30,000 BMW, resulted in prison - 18 months reduced to nine on appeal. Apart from a couple of community penalties, the other punishments were fines.
Had the Crown made a "bad character" application on time the jury would have been told about his criminal career.
But their bid to introduce his background was made just days before his trial and rejected by Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith.
His first brush with the law was in December 1997 at Camberwell Youth Court when he was convicted of wounding another footballer.
At the time he was playing for a local Dulwich side. His victim was part of a St Thomas's Hospital team.
Magistrates heard how he first grabbed his opponent round the neck and, as the referee booked him, returned to the attack with a head-butt and a punch in the face, fracturing his cheekbone.
He was given an 80-hour community order and ordered to pay £250 compensation.
Two years later, at Tower Bridge Magistrates' Court, he was fined a total of £240 for two counts of theft and two of fraudulently using a tax disc.
In 2002 he was before Camberwell Green Magistrates for driving with excess alcohol and while uninsured. He was fined £650, ordered to pay £40 costs and disqualified from driving for nine months.
A week later at Greenwich Magistrates' Court he received a six-month community rehabilitation order and was ordered to pay £100 compensation for criminal damage and attempting to obtain property by deception.
Still in 2002, at Inner London Crown Court, he was jailed for receiving the BMW Cabriolet.
A year after that he was at Bow Street Magistrates' Court for two counts of common assault.
The court heard how a black cab driver had called police about a "disturbance" in Berwick Street, Soho.
When officers arrived they saw King chasing two women along the road with a belt and buckle wrapped round his right fist.
One of them explained he had attacked them for "no apparent reason", punching her in the face and causing cuts and swelling.
He was fined £1,000, and ordered to pay £500 compensation as well as £100 costs.
Sometime before the hearing, however, his solicitor rang police to say the player could not keep an appointment at the station because he was "currently receiving drugs rehabilitation at a residential centre in Wolverhampton".
But yesterday, during his evidence on oath, he was asked by his barrister Trevor Burke, QC: "Is there any question of you taking drugs ever?
"Never been near drugs," he replied.
His last court appearance was in 2005, again at Bow Street, when he was convicted of threatening behaviour.
This involved him approaching a woman near Leicester Square, and again for "no apparent reason" spat at her.
He was fined £300, and ordered to pay £500 compensation and £55 costs.
--Previous Message--
: If he was white, working class and a
: footballer who has captained England on a
: number of occasions, he could have looked
: forward to his having had the case
: dismissed.
:
: Which I suppose illustrates that one should
: not attempt to apply strict criteria in
: these matters.
:
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