Judge criticises prosecution case against former Manchester United captain and says: ‘I think it’s a case the Crown wishes they hadn’t bothered with’

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A judge has criticised the Crown Prosecution Service for pursuing the former Manchester United captain Roy Keane to court over an alleged road rage incident involving a taxi driver.

Keane, 43, was said to have reduced Fateh Kerar, 44, to a state of “fear” and “embarrassment” by glaring at him and later swearing.

He was also said to have directed a V sign at Kerar, who had been upset that his one-time idol had failed to smile at him.

The defence said it was Kerar who had made the gesture, and that the entire case against Keane amounted to no more than “a storm in a teacup”.

District judge Duncan Birrell, sitting at Manchester magistrates court, appeared to agree. Having heard three hours of evidence about the incident in Altrincham, Cheshire, he took seconds to acquit the current assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland football team.

“You are discharged, not guilty and free to go,” Birrell told Keane.

The prosecution case had been “riven with inconsistency and improbability”, he said. “I think it’s a case the Crown wishes they hadn’t bothered with,” he said, “but that’s up to them.”

His only criticism of Keane was to suggest that he might regret getting out of his car at the scene on 30 January this year.

Roy Keane in his heyday as Manchester United captain. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action Images

Kerar was allowed to give evidence from behind a screen after successfully applying through the CPS for special measures.

With Keane unable to see him, he claimed the ex-footballer had begun staring at him as he waited for a passenger to get cash from a bank in Hale village, Cheshire.

“He was looking very aggressive and saying something in the car,” said Kerar. “He was giving me bad looks.”

Kerar’s cab and Keane’s Land Rover Discovery set off almost simultaneously towards Altrincham, the former heading to the railway station, the ex-footballer to a pet store so he and his wife could buy dog food.

Kerar and his passenger, Hothan Isman, were convinced Keane was following them. Both claimed that within moments of him passing them to turn right he pulled over, got out of his car and began gesticulating and swearing at Kerar.

Under cross-examination by Stuart Denney, QC, the taxi driver insisted that Keane had been “staring aggressively for 10 to 15 seconds”.

He denied having done anything to provoke the Irishman and told Denney: “Maybe he was having a bad day, I don’t know.”

The only gesture he made, he said, was to put his hand to the corners of his mouth, in order to suggest that the “sombre-faced” Keane should smile.

He denied having directed his own “fake, idiotic smile” at Keane as he drove by. Nor, he said, had he given the ex-footballer a two-fingered gesture a few moments later.

The taxi driver agreed he had contacted both the police and a local newspaper within half an hour of the altercation. However, he denied having done this in order to “make him pay for being rude”.

Isman recalled Kerar “physically shaking and upset” as a result of Keane’s behaviour. “We were both quite shocked and surprised by the situation. He wondered whether Mr Keane was being racist towards him, but I said ‘No, I don’t think it’s personal, he’s just being arrogant.’

She suggested Kerar go to the police “because he was behaving aggressively and I thought that was inappropriate behaviour”.

Kerar said the ex-footballer had directed his final volley of abuse from beside his car. In contrast, Isman said he had walked up to the taxi. She said it was snowing and the windows were up. Kerar said his window was wound down.

Denney put it to the witness that Keane had “quite a sombre face when in repose”, and added: “I suggest you saw no more than a man with a sombre face looking at you.” She replied: “I believe it was more than that.”

Keane said he and his wife had just had breakfast in a cafe. He then waited in the car while she went to Sainsbury’s to buy bread.

“I was chilling out, relaxing, when I noticed the taxi driver looking across. I think he gave me a nod and I gave him a nod.”

He said that as the taxi pulled away Kerar “gave me a smirking gesture, pushing up the corners of his mouth”.

The ex-footballer said both vehicles turned right at the same junction in order to avoid stopping at a level crossing. Since Keane was behind, the driver and his passenger might have thought he was deliberately following.

He said he finally got out of his car after looking in his mirror to see Kerar giving him a V sign. Standing six or seven car lengths from the taxi, he held out his arms and asked: “What’s your problem?”

Kerar had responded by saying something like: “You need to cheer up.”. Keane acknowledged that as he got back into his car he said “Oh fuck off.”

Asked by Denney whether there was any truth in the claim that he had behaved in an aggressive, violent manner, he replied: “None whatsoever.” Was there anything that had made him feel aggression towards either the taxi driver or his passenger? “No,” replied Keane.

Was there anything that had made him feel aggressive towards the world in general? “Not that morning, no,” he said with a chuckle.