An Elvis impersonator once assaulted by wanted footballer Anthony Stokes has called on him to change his ways and “get back on track”.
Crooner Anthony Bradley was headbutted by Stokes in a Dublin nightclub and was never paid the €230,000 compensation awarded to him. But he says it’s not too late for the Irish footballer to change his ways after he failed to show up at a court appearance in Scotland last Friday.
Mr Bradley, who says he’s long since forgiven Stokes, 34, spoke exclusively to this paper as police in Scotland issued a warrant for the football star - who remains wanted for sentencing over the harassment of his former girlfriend.
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The singer said: “It’s not too late for him to turn it around. He made some mistakes, but nothing that can’t be put right. Then he can get back to what he does best, on the field.
“I wish him well and suggest that he get himself back on track. Mr Bradley added that he felt Stokes has the ability to prove himself again through football - once he puts his court woes behind him.
He said: “He has the ability to change it all on the pitch.”
The warrant for Stokes arrest came after he failed to show up in Hamilton Sheriff Court last Friday - despite being on bail in Scotland having been arrested and sent there from the North earlier this year.
The former Republic of Ireland footballer and Celtic player was banned from contacting his former partner and her mother for four years in September 2019 and was handed four-year non-harassment orders after he admitted stalking. At the time, sentencing was deferred for Stokes to be of good behaviour.
But the footballer later admitted breaching the non-harassment orders by repeatedly sending emails and texts to his former girlfriend and repeatedly calling her mother in November and December 2019. He also admitted causing his ex-partner fear or alarm by repeatedly sending her messages between November 16 and December 3, 2019 in which he did “swear and utter offensive remarks”, and by repeatedly telephoning her parents to “utter inappropriate and offensive remarks” about her.
He was due to be sentenced last month but was unable to attend as he had contracted Covid-19. Following his failure to appear in court last Friday, Sheriff Alasdair MacFadyen ordered a warrant for his arrest in the brief hearing.
Stokes was capped internationally for Ireland nine times during his career and played for a host of teams including Hibernian and Sunderland. Meanwhile Mr Bradley now says he’s seriously out-of-pocket from the numerous court appearances - and that he never intended to take Stokes to court.
Instead he blames the State for taking the assault case against the footballer - and he now feels it is at fault for not pursuing the €230,000 awarded to him. Mr Bradley said: “My issue is not with Anthony Stokes, it’s our poor Irish justice system which needs to be reformed.
“I can and have forgiven Anthony Stokes. What he did was an act of stupidity.
“ I am a victim not of the assault but of circumstance. I keep saying this, I have been dragged in and out of courts due to adjourned cases simply because there were no courts available resulting in losses to which I have not been able to retrieve.
“The State got their conviction, leaving me with no help whatsoever.” Mr Bradley says he also hasn’t received the €30,000 awarded to him in the criminal case which preceded the High Court ruling awarding him an additional €230,00.
In 2017 Stokes was given a two-year suspended sentence at Dublin Circuit Court for head-butting Mr Bradley in an incident at Buck Whaleys nightclub in 2013. During the incident Mr Bradley suffered a broken nose, broken teeth and serious effects on his mental health from the assault.
He lost his job as a security man at Dublin’s Gresham hotel and had to set aside his love of impersonating singer Elvis Presley. The court heard Mr Bradley had words with a man in Stokes’ company because he was unsteady on his feet and spilling his drink.
It was then, Mr Bradley said, that Stokes “arrived out of nowhere” and head-butted him in the nose. He was bleeding so badly that a friend who was standing with him was covered in blood.
The court heard that as Stokes was removed from the club he said: “I didn’t start it. If someone puts it up to me I am going to nut them.”
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