An Arsenal fan who headbutted Roy Keane in a violent attack at the Emirates Stadium has been banned from football for three years.
Scott Law, a 43-year-old civil engineer, dashed from his seat to confront the Sky Sports pundit during the climax of Arsenal’s 3-1 Premier League victory over Manchester United last September.
Keane was knocked backwards through a seat of doors by Law’s headbutt to his upper chest, before Sky colleague Micah Richards stepped in to restrain the attacker.
In the aftermath, Richards was seen pinning Law to a wall as an angry Keane remonstrated with him.
Keane was accused of throwing an elbow at Law’s nose in a violent scuffle moments later, but the former Manchester United captain insists he was only trying to stop him from fleeing.
At Highbury Corner magistrates court on Thursday, Law was found guilty of assault by beating after a trial in front of District Judge Angus Hamilton.
He was banned from all football matches for the next three years, and ordered to carry out 80 hours of community service. He must also pay £650 in costs and a £114 victim surcharge.
“This was not a pleasant incident at all”, said the judge. “It was an assault involving a single blow, and it could have caused far more serious injury than it did.
“It’s good fortune that it caused bruising to Mr Keane’s chest and arms.”
Finding him guilty, the judge said Law’s story had changed between his arrest, when he claimed self-defence, and at trial when he suggested Keane had run into his head.
“It is highly improbable Mr Keane was running with such speed that he couldn’t have stopped and prevented the collision”, said the judge.
“It is very unlikely Mr Keane chose on that day to involve himself in a physical confrontation.”
The judge picked up “problems” with Law’s explanations, and concluded: “He has been untruthful about what happened on September 3 and he did behave in the manner alleged.”
The judge said the headbutt “clearly came as such a shock to Mr Keane that he couldn’t describe any details of the party’s movements beforehand.”
The judge added that Richards had given honest evidence and was not, as Law’s defence had suggested, acting as Keane’s “stooge”.
“The facts I heard didn’t suggest Mr Richards held some questionable allegiance to Mr Keane.”
In a statement, Keane said he had “stepped back from football for a short time to reflect on what happened”, but he declined to give a full impact statement.
Charles Sherrard KC, for Law, said of the football banning order: “Football is his life and this will be in many ways the biggest punishment for him”.
Law, a father-of-two from Waltham Abbey in Essex and life-long Arsenal fan, was at the match on September 3 last year when Garnacho appeared to have scored a last-minute winner.
He says the crowd were having “banter” with Keane throughout the tie as he worked for Sky Sports in a nearby glass-fronted studio.
When VAR disallowed Garnacho’s goal, Law turned to the Sky studio and made an obscene gesture, before dashing from his seat.
Keane said he was headbutted out of the blue as he made his way from the studio to pitchside, where he was due to be part of Sky’s post-game analysis.
“I couldn’t believe it”, Keane told the court. “I was in shock.
“I just felt the contact, and I’ve fallen back through some doors.” He added: “I didn’t expect that to happen, not when I was in the workplace.”
Law’s defence case was that Keane was angry and red-faced when they met in the corridor, having repeatedly dubbed him “fatty” during the match as banter turned to aggression.
He said he put his head down as Keane approached, and suggested the ex-footballer had run into the top of his head.
Law said he knew of Keane’s fearsome reputation as a player, including multiple red cards, a horror tackle on Alfie-Inge Haaland, and a stamp on Gareth Southgate.
“I was convinced I was going to be attacked and I put my head down”, he said.
He claimed Keane had said “say it to my face you fat c***” just before the contact.
Keane, in his evidence, denied any aggression and insisted he had been focused on doing his job that day.
Richards, the former Manchester City and Aston Villa defender, told the court he witnessed the headbutt: “I heard shouting and then as he came closer to Roy, I have seen him arch his head back and tried to headbutt him.
“After that, I was in shock, for one, and so was Roy.
“I was in disbelief at what was going on. Did that just really happen?”
As the incident was unfolding, Arsenal scored two injury time goals to seal a 3-1 win.
CCTV captured the aftermath, as Richards grabbed hold of Law and in a nearby restaurant a violence scuffle unfolded.
Keane was accused of throwing an “upper-cut elbow” at Law’s face, but he insisted he had only been trying to grab hold of his attacker.
“I was trying to grab him, to stop him from getting out”, he said.
Law handed himself in to police the day after the incident and was charged with assault by beating.
Kevin Christie, Crown Prosecution Service London North Football Lead Prosecutor, said: “This gratuitous and senseless act of violence wascompletely unacceptable.
“When anyone attends a football match, either to work or to support a team, they should be able to feel safe and secure in that environment.
“The Crown Prosecution Service works in close partnership with the police to ensure that all perpetrators of violence at football grounds are brought to justice.”
