Keane ‘tried to seize Arsenal fan and didn’t deliberately elbow him’

Manchester United legend Roy Keane did not intentionally elbow a football fan accused of headbutting him, a court heard.

Scott Law, 43, of Waltham Abbey, Essex, has pleaded not guilty to assault by beating over the incident at a Premier League match at Emirates Stadium last September.

Chaos ensued towards the end of Arsenal’s 3-1 victory over Manchester United, where ex-Ireland international Keane was working as a pundit for Sky Sports.

Law was seated near to the glass-fronted Sky Sports studio and is said to have made an ‘obscene gesture’ towards Keane and colleague Micah Richards.

Alejandro Garnacho had just had a goal for Manchester United disallowed following a VAR review, with the score at 1-1.

Footage posted on social media showed Richards stepping in to diffuse the situation after Law threw the alleged head butt.

Keane, 52, earlier told Highbury Corner magistrates’ court he was left ‘in shock’ after he was attacked in his workplace.

He said there was ‘large contact’ to the side of his face and chest that knocked him backwards through a set of doors.

Keane, who was left bruised, told the court he saw the attacker being restrained by Richards, who was trying to make sure he did not run off.

Married father Law managed to leave but was arrested the following day.

DC Phillip Dickinson, from the Met’s Public Order Unit, insisted Keane did not assault Law with an elbow to the face during the incident.

He said: ‘I don’t believe it was an intentional elbow to the face looking at the footage.

‘There may have been contact but it does not look like a deliberate elbow to the face in my opinion.’

Law’s barrister Charlie Sherrard KC replied: ‘Let’s just have a look then officer because I suggest that is absolute nonsense.’

‘I have worked in CCTV since 2011 during the London Riots investigation, if you play this at normal speed,’ replied DC Dickinson.

Mr Sherrard said: ‘I will play it at normal speed because then you can see the speed of the impact.

‘What possible explanation can there be for raising an elbow to the face?’

DC Dickinson insisted: ‘In my opinion, he has gone to grab hold of him, it is your opinion he has gone to elbow, it is my opinion he has gone to grab.’

Mr Sherrard snapped: ‘I suggest you are lying, your opinion is plainly biased in support of this case and it has been throughout.’

DC Dickinson, who has been a police officer for 21 years and involved in football matches for six years, denied the accusation he has not adequately investigated this incident.

Law told officers in a prepared statement he threw his head back in self-defence after Keane approached him in an aggressive manner. 

His defence team alleged on Wednesday that Mr Keane was captured on camera using ‘gratuitous violence’ against Law by ‘smashing his nose’ with his elbow.

Mr Sherrard asked the former Ipswich Town manager: ‘How are you stopping someone getting away with an elbow to the face?’

Mr Keane replied: ‘That’s to stop him getting away. I’m trying to grab him.

‘I’ve got bags in my hands, I was trying to grab him to stop him from getting out.

‘I must have said nine or 10 times: ‘Someone call the police’.’

Mr Sherrard alleged that ‘the red mist descended’ on Mr Keane after a VAR decision went against Manchester United towards the end of the match and he was taunted by home supporters.

Addressing the former Nottingham Forest player, Mr Sherrard said: ‘You chose to confront him. When you saw him, you said: ‘Say it to my face you fat c***’.’

Mr Keane replied: ‘I said that when I was at work? Disagree.’

Further CCTV footage shown in court on Thursday appeared to show Law exiting and running away from the Emirates Stadium on the day of the incident.

In a prepared statement given to police on the day following the incident, Law said: ‘Throughout the match there was what I would regard as banter between me and Mr Keane.

‘The banter turned more aggressive with Mr Keane gesturing towards me to meet him outside.’

Law said in the statement that he was an ‘avid football fan’ and had seen Mr Keane act violently before on the football pitch, adding that he was ‘scared’ at the time of the incident.

He said during a ‘natural break in the game’ he went to use the toilet and was approached by Mr Keane in a ‘very aggressive manner’, adding: ‘His face looked angry.’

Law said in the statement that he moved his head forward in a ‘pre-emptive strike’ to defend himself against the former Sunderland manager.

The court was shown a custody photo of Law from September 4 2023 in which he appeared to have an injury to his nose.

Following the match last year, footage was widely shared on social media of ex-Manchester City footballer and Sky Sports pundit Micah Richards stepping in to calm an apparent confrontation.

Dc Dickinson said police were unable to trace who filmed the footage, which was shown in court, adding: ‘It had been retweeted so much.’

Former Manchester City star Richards, 35, is expected to give evidence tomorrow, before Law himself will take to the stand.

Law, of Waltham Abbey, Essex, denies one charge of assault by beating

Arsenal went on to win 3-1 with goals from Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Jesus cancelling out Marcus Rashford’s opener.

This comes after Keane told Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court yesterday that he was left ‘in shock’ after being allegedly ‘headbutted’ backwards through doors during the match.

But Law has claimed he was in fact rushing to the toilet, and was using his head in self-defence after Keane came at him and repeatedly called him a ‘fatty’.

Law added that Keane’s reputation as a violent ‘hard man’ meant he feared attack – and his legal team, who provided enhanced CCTV evidence, said Keane threw an ‘upper cut elbow’ at Law’s nose, reported the Evening Standard.

Charles Sherrard KC, defending, told Keane: ‘You chose to confront him. When you saw him, you said ‘say it to my face you fat c***’.’ But Keane denied this.

The clip also showed Keane’s colleague Micah Richards grabbing hold of Law before letting him go. The court was told Richards said: ‘Are you crazy? Are you f***ing mad? Say sorry.’

Richards was also alleged to have said later: ‘Someone needs to arrest him, he’s just assaulted Roy Keane, don’t let him go.’

Earlier yesterday, Keane, 52, told the court that the incident happened when he and fellow Sky pundit Richards were walking down for the final match analysis.

‘There was lots of noise and shouting, as you would expect at a football match,’ he said. ‘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.’

Footage was posted on social media of Richards stepping in to calm an apparent confrontation.

On this, Mr Keane told the court: ‘Micah then gets hold of someone. He was just trying to get a grip of him and make sure he didn’t run off.

‘I was saying ‘Call the police’. For about 15 or 20 seconds Micah was holding him up against a wall (to stop) him getting away.’

Law then fled the scene after Mr Richards lost his grip, the court heard, before the two pundits headed pitch-side to give their post-match analysis.

Mr Keane added: ‘We missed the final two goals but that was the least of my worries.’

He claims to have suffered bruising on his chest and arms as a result of the incident.

A video played to the court showed Law, an Arsenal fan, turning to the Sky Sports broadcast box after VAR ruled out a goal for Manchester United.

He then appeared to leave his seat before making his way to the club level, where he crossed paths with Mr Keane.

According to the prosecution, Law then made his way to a hallway near the Sky Sports studio where he delivered a ‘forceful headbutt’ to Keane’s chest.

The defendant then fled the scene but was arrested the following day, it was said.

Law told officers in a prepared statement that Keane had ‘approached him in an aggressive manner’ which caused him to throw his head back in self-defence.

But Simon Jones KC, prosecuting, said: ‘Self-defence has no place in this case and there is simply no justification for the defendant’s violence. (He was) clearly the aggressor and his claims of moving to a pre-emptive stroke lack credibility.’

The trial continues and is expected to conclude tomorrow.