Sam Kerr learns fate in racial harassment trial in UK court

Matildas captain Sam Kerr has learnt her fate from her racial harassment trial after more than a week spent inside the court.

WARNING: This article includes language that some readers may find offensive

Matildas skipper Sam Kerr has been found not guilty on one charge of racially aggravated harassment in a UK court after she called a police officer “f***ing stupid and white”.

However, the judge cautioned Kerr that “her own behaviour” in the police station had contributed to the case being brought in the first place.

After deliberating for a touch over four hours, the jury handed down their verdict at Kingston Crown Court, London, just after 2pm on Tuesday (1am, Wednesday, AEST).

Kerr looked down as she found out the verdict and then hugged wellwishers including her family.

News Corporation Australia’s Sophie Ellsworth, who was in court, said that many of Kerr’s supporters in the public gallery broke down in tears as the verdict was read out – including her fiance Kristie Mewis.

An expressionless Kerr left the court shortly afterwards.

Sam Kerr leaves Kingston Crown Court after being found not guilty of causing racially aggravated harassment on February 3, 2025. (Photo by Peter Nicholls/Getty Images)

‘Kerr’s behaviour contributed to court case’

According to The Daily Telegraph, Justice Peter Lodder told the jury to consider three things: did Kerr look to cause the police officer hurt, alarm and distress; did she indeed cause him hurt alarm or distress; and were her comments racially aggravated. The jury decided not.

After the verdict, Justice Lodder said Kerr’s actions in the police station had not helped her situation.

“I take the view her own behaviour contributed significantly to the bringing of this allegation,” he said.

“I don’t go behind the jury’s verdict but that has a significant bearing on the question of costs.

“The behaviour she has to accept by virtue of the video recording”.

Sam Kerr has been found NOT guilty of one count of racially aggravated harassment at a London court at about 2.10pm local time. @theheraldsun@dailytelegraph@[e-mail]/RNxf0t3zTr

— Sophie Elsworth (@sophieelsworth) February 11, 2025

The not guilty plea brings to an end a saga that began more than two years ago after a drunken night out in London.

In January, 2023, the Chelsea star was with fellow footballer Mewis when they became embroiled in a fracas in a taxi which saw the back window of the vehicle kicked out and the driver accuse the pair of refusing to pay clean up costs after one of them vomited.

The driver ended up taking them to Twickenham police station in the city’s south west.

At the police station, Kerr, 31, told Officer Stephen Lovell it felt like her and Mewis were being “held hostage,” in the taxi.

Taking the stand, Mewis claimed PC Lovell was “immediately dismissive,” of the couple and ignored their protestations that they had been “taken against our will”.

“He wasn’t believing what we were saying”.

Mewis added: “It felt a little bit like gaslighting”.

The pair claimed police dismissed their insistence that they had called emergency services from the taxi, but a phone recording proved they had done exactly that.

During the trial, video was entered into evidence of Kerr at Twickenham police station which showed her sparring with Officer Lovell, saying she would refuse to pay the damage to the taxi because the driver was a “dodgy c***”. Although she did later pay $1800 to the driver for the damage which avoided a criminal damage charge.

Sam Kerr and partner Kristie Mewis arrive at Kingston Crown Court on February 3, 2025. (Photo by Peter Nicholls/Getty Images)

‘Calm down missy’

After insisting the pair felt they had been in danger and those fears were ignored, Kerr was then alleged to have become “abusive and insulting” towards PC Lovell, calling him “stupid and white”.

It was that remark that was at the centre of the racially aggravated harassment charge.

The police officer said he had felt “shocked, upset and humiliated,” by Kerr’s comment.

However, an initial statement from PC Lovell on the incident didn't make mention of the “stupid and white” comment and no case was brought. The case only went ahead when he submitted a second statement 11 months later that contained the comment.

On the video recording from the police station, PC Lovell can be heard telling Kerr: “You need to calm yourself down little missy”.

Both Kerr and PC Lovell said in court that could have handed the situation better.

In the dock, Kerr, who is mixed race, argued her “stupid and white,” comment did not amount to racial aggravation. She denied using “whiteness as an insult”.

“I believed it was him using his power and privilege over me because he was accusing me of being something.

“I was trying to express that due to the power and privilege they had, they would never have to understand what we had just gone through and the fear we were having for our lives.”

Ms Kerr said he was not saying the policeman was stupid “because he was white”.

Kristie Mewis, the partner of Chelsea and Australia striker Sam Kerr, leaves Kingston Crown Court, south west London. (Photo by Andrew Matthews/PA Images via Getty Images)

‘Completely unacceptable’

Kerr’s lawyer Grace Forbes tried to persuade the jury that it was police that were at fault when it came to two women who were genuinely in fear.

She claimed it was “completely unacceptable” that police had not taken Kerr’s and Mewis’ allegations against the cab driver more seriously.

The first “vital minutes” of the encounter between police and the two footballers was not recorded by bodycams, said Ms Forbes.

“Even if you are drunk, you can still be a victim of crime,” she added, reported The Guardian.

“PC Lovell conceded in evidence that their allegations were capable of amounting to dangerous driving and false imprisonment. Why did he say on the night what she had told him didn’t amount to any offences?

The image of Kerr presented by the bodycam footage of her drunk in the police station was a “one dimensional image,” her lawyer said.

Body-cam footage of Sam Kerr inside the police station. Source: Twitter

‘What if PC Lovell had been black?’

But prosecution lawyer Bill Emlyn Jones attempted to cut to what he said was the core of the case after the Matildas star’s mother and teammates had flocked to her defence.

After Kerr was described as a “truly special human,” and one of the “kindest players”, Mr Jones said it was irrelevant because she had still called a policeman, “f***ing stupid and white”.

Mr Jones said what happened in the taxi didn’t make “one blind bit of difference to what this case is about,” and said Kerr was “drunk and angry,” and “lashing out in a rage”.

Sam Kerr’s trial has gone over for over a week. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

“In the heat of the moment this was an insult delivered in reference to race and that is what the law prohibits,” Mr Jones said.

“The test for you is the same regardless of the ethnicity in question. She was insulting him and, at the time, she was hostile to him by reference to his race.

“Would we consider this a racially aggravated insult if she had said stupid and black? Of course you would, it wouldn’t even be contestable.”

The footage was confronting. Source: Twitter

How has the Sam Kerr saga played out

January 29, 2023: Sam Kerr scores a hat trick in the club’s FA Cup showdown with Liverpool at Kingsmeadow. The 3-2 win sees Chelsea progress to the fifth round of the competition.

January 30, 2023: Sam Kerr celebrates her performance with a night out with partner Kristie Mewis. Kerr mentioned earlier in the trial that she was “intoxicated”. It is alleged one of the women vomited in a taxi they booked to take them back to their London home.

Kerr has alleged the driver acted “crazy” and refused to let them leave. The driver called police and drove to Twickenham Police Station where police allegedly noticed a broken window, glass on the ground outside the vehicle and damage to the plastic guard inside the taxi. Kerr is held in custody and speaks with Police Constable Stephen Lovell. Body camera footage shows her calling Lovell “stupid and white”. Fooage also shows Kerr describing the taxi driver as a “f***ing liar” and a “stupid c**t”.

January 31, 2023: Kerr returns to Twickenham Police Station where she is formally interviewed by police constable Ryan Skinner for 20 minutes. Kerr tells Skinner she would say sorry if she was now able to say something to Lovell.

December, 2023: Lovell submits a second statement saying he was “shocked, upset, and (left) me feeling humiliated”. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) – the body in England and Wales that decides if cases should go to trial – originally decided not to charge Kerr.

January 21, 2024: Kerr is charged with a racially aggravated offence under Section 4A Public Order Act 1986.

March 4, 2024: Kerr pleads not guilty.

April, 2024: Hearings were delayed after the Crown Prosecution Service were unable to gather enough evidence, including CCTV footage, to cross examine the football superstar.

January 15, 2025: Sam Kerr appears at Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court where her hopes of having the case dismissed before it goes to trial are dashed.

February 4: The case begins on the opening day with prosecution showing 30 minutes of footage captured on Lovell’s body camera.

Originally published as Sam Kerr learns fate in racial harassment trial in UK court