Footballer Terry’s father cleared of race assault in row with Asian outside pub

Ted Terry, 59, was accused of calling Amarjit Talafair a “f****** Paki” before headbutting him outside a City of London pub on March 22 last year. A jury of seven men and five women took an hour and 20 minutes to find him not guilty of racially-aggravated common assault and racially-aggravated fear or provocation of violence.

Terry left the courtroom with colleagues and co-defendants Stephen Niland, 36, and Tudor Musteata, 47, who were also cleared of hurling racist abuse at Mr Talafair.

“I just feel relieved really,” the former England captain’s father said. “It’s been a hard year for all of us. We all felt it was nothing, really. It was stupid.”

Outside the court the defendants, who work together as decorators, hugged each other.

Defence barristers argued that the prosecution’s witnesses all knew each other and had conspired together to back up Mr Talafair’s race abuse claims.

Mr Talafair told the jury he had suffered no injury from Terry’s alleged headbutt because he was able to get out of the way in time.

He admitted calling Terry a “fat bald p****” during the stand-off and asking officers about taking his story to the Press.

As a football fan he was aware John Terry stood trial in 2012 for allegedly racially abusing former QPR defender Anton Ferdinand. He was also cleared after a trial.

The jury heard that Ted Terry had a previous conditional discharge for common assault in 2005 and a suspended prison sentence for supplying class A drugs in 2010.

Less than two months after being arrested for the confrontation outside the Windsor, Terry was fined £200 for racially abusing an Irishman.

However he denied he was “somebody who becomes aggressive in a heartbeat” or that he tended to “lash out” with racist abuse when he became angry.