A football linesman was found guilty today of punching a player during a match. David Taylor, 24, of Bainbridge Green, Shrewsbury, had denied a charge of grievous bodily harm.
It followed an incident during a game between Heathgates Utd and Ludlow Town Colts.
The jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict at Shrewsbury Crown Court today. Taylor will be sentenced at a later date after pre-sentence reports have been prepared.
The match was held at Monkmoor Recreation Centre, Shrewsbury, on December 3, 2005.
Taylor punched Ludlow Town Colts player Nicholas Dahn after running from the side of the pitch, where he was acting as a linesman for Heathgates.
Taylor had already admitted misconduct during the match when he appeared at a disciplinary hearing of the Shropshire Football Association, and was given a 112 day suspension and £75 fine.
But in court he denied causing grievous bodily harm to Mr Dahn.
During his summing-up, Mr Paul Smith, for Taylor, said there had been a “chaotic, confused, large group of people” on the pitch at the time of the incident.
He said prosecution witnesses were giving different accounts.
After the jury returned its verdict, Mr Daniel White, prosecuting, revealed Taylor had previous convictions for violence, offences of dishonesty and affray.
2 Comments
i think that this case should have been thrown out of court from the start. womern who get their own children to fight only get suspended sentences and after reading the above article,it sounds to me that the evidence is of nothing that can be relevant as Nicholas Dahn had previosly admitted that their was a big row and fight but yet when he got punched, only taylor was around. how can this be true if their was a massive fight going on. Nicholas Dahn also said that he never realised that he had been punched until minutes after the game had finished, when he went to have a drink of water. yet he said that during the chaotic misconduct, he knew that taylor was the one who hit him because he was the only one around. how can the jury be sure that it was taylor? reconsider your guilty verdict. oh and Nicolas Dahn only wanted compensation!
oh and Nicolas Dahn only wanted compensation!….utterly stupid a young lad has one thing on his mind when stepping onto a football pitch, to win at not one point would i even think someone would walk on planning to get compensation, and as for thrown out of court its obvious that nicholas dahn was punched by someone off the opposing team so if not mr taylor, why had no one else come forward mr taylor is obviously guitly or his team mates are cowards!