The Crown Prosecution Service has released a mugshot of the man who headbutted Roy Keane.
Scott Law is pictured with a bruise on his nose and with red grazes between his eyes. The 43-year-old is an Arsenal supporter and has been banned from going to a football match for three years after the altercation with the Sky Sports pundit.
Law was at the Emirates Stadium watching Arsenal’s 3 – 1 victory over Manchester United when the incident occurred on September 3. Highbury Corner Magistrates Court heard how the fracas started as Keane was walking to do the final match analysis alongside Micah Richards.
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CCTV footage widely shared on social media showed Richards step in to calm down the apparent confrontation. Law’s defence team said CCTV footage from inside the stadium, shown in court, displayed former Manchester United player Mr Keane elbowing the defendant in the face – as the MEN reports.
Delivering his verdict, District Judge Angus Hamilton said he believed Law had been “untruthful about what happened” during the match. He said: “There was no reason Mr Keane should have picked on him in particular… I’m sure Mr Law assaulted Mr Keane.”
Civil engineer Law did not react as the verdict was given. But outside court, his legal representatives suggested he planned to appeal his conviction.
Mr Keane said he had been “in shock” from the assault, and suffered bruising on his chest and arms due to the incident. Giving evidence, the 52-year-old told the court: “There was lots of noise and shouting, as you would expect at a football match. I was just walking and, before I knew it, I was hit. I felt the contact and fell back through some doors.
“I was absolutely not expecting it. The only way I can describe it is that I was in shock. I didn’t expect it to happen, not when I was in my workplace.”
Law, who was sat beneath the Sky Sports studio during the match, said Mr Keane was “very animated” and “angry” throughout the game, adding he had “never really seen that behaviour from someone who was working in the Sky box”.
He told the court: “Mr Keane was puffing his cheeks out. He was right up against the glass. He was banging on the window. Mr Keane picked me out and started telling me to see him outside. He was pointing to doors in the box.”
Law added that he put his ‘head down in a defensive manner’ to ‘protect’ his face, and claimed he had been made ‘guilty by media’. But the judge saw through his account before finding him guilty of common assault.
Law told the court his Emirates Stadium season ticket was his “prized possession” and said: “It’s the main part of my social circle. My wife organises her diary around Arsenal fixtures because she knows I’ll be there.”
He will miss that for three years and was also ordered to complete 80 hours of unpaid work, and must pay legal costs of £650 plus a victim surcharge of £114.
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