John Terry set for personal hearing

Chelsea captain John Terry will use a personal hearing on Monday to again deny a Football Association charge over his part in an incident last season with QPR defender Anton Ferdinand.

Terry, 31, is alleged to have used “abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour” in the 23 October match.

In July Terry was cleared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court of racially abusing Ferdinand. But he was subsequently charged by the FA two weeks later.

In a statement at the time the FA said Terry was alleged to have used a “reference to the ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race of Ferdinand” during the incident.

At July’s trial the court heard accusations that Terry had insulted Ferdinand, describing him as “black” and using extreme sexual swear words.

In reaching a not guilty verdict, chief magistrate Howard Riddle stated it was “possible that what was said was not intended as an insult but rather as a challenge to what he believed had been said to him”.

The prosecution had to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Terry had used the words in an insulting manner, which it could not.  But the FA only has to prove its case “on the balance of probabilities”.

Short URL: http://thechronicle.com.gh/?p=47703