The Metropolitan police officer at the centre of Sam Kerr’s criminal trial did not mention being called “stupid and white” by the footballer in his first statement about the incident, a court has heard, and only included it in a further statement 11 months later.
On Monday, Kingston crown court heard that Kerr, 31, the captain of the Australian women’s football team and Chelsea’s star striker, called PC Stephen Lovell “fucking stupid and white” after he doubted her claim of being “held hostage” by a taxi driver after a night out with her partner Kristie Mewis in January 2023.
On Tuesday, it was revealed that the Crown Prosecution Service, the body which has the final say on whether a criminal prosecution can go ahead in England and Wales, initially decided against charging Kerr as the evidence did not meet the required threshold.
But the CPS decided to charge Kerr with racially aggravated intentional harassment after a second statement was provided by Lovell in December 2023, 11 months after the incident first happened. He said her comments had left him “shocked, upset and humiliated”. She denies the charges.
During cross-examination on Tuesday, Kerr’s defence barrister, Grace Forbes, asked Lovell about this first statement, which was submitted on 30 January 2023. She put it to Lovell: “Your first statement made no mention of stupid and white.”
Lovell said it did not.
She then accused Lovell of submitting a second statement in December 2023 “because the CPS declined to charge Kerr”, saying “only a year later did you make mention of these words having had an impact on you… The CPS didn’t identify charge. You knew that was the obstacle?”
“No,” Lovell said.
“You are claiming this impact purely to get a criminal charge over the line?” she asked him again.
“No,” he said.
Lovell was also asked about Kerr’s status as a well-known sports star. Forbes suggested to him: “You made an assumption about her that she was a troublemaker, that she was difficult and, because of what she does for a living, she was an arrogant person?”
In response, Lovell said he did not know what Kerr did for a living.
Forbes disputed his denial, saying “you told her very early on, that you knew exactly who she was”. Lovell said he did not recall saying that but he knew she was a “famous football player” after a colleague had informed him.
Kerr claimed she called the police because she and Mewis believed they were being kidnapped by their cab driver.
Bill Emlyn Jones, for the prosecution, asked Lovell to read out sections from this second statement. In it, he described Kerr’s comments as leaving him “shocked, upset” and “feeling humiliated”. On the comments about his race specifically, he said “they were too far and I took great offence to them”.
The trial continues.
