Chelsea captain John Terry found not guilty

The defender has been cleared of racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand with the Chief Magistrate saying the verdict was the only decision the court could make.

Garth Crooks, former Tottenham Hotspurs player and trustee for the anti-racism in football campaign 'Kick It Out', insist that, John Terry is still under investigation by the Football Association, based on what he admitted. Mr Crooks said the FA needs to decide if he has broken any of their rules of racially abusing QPR centre-back Ferdinand,  following a five-day trial at Westminster Magistrates' Court. Delivering the verdict Chief Magistrate Howard Riddle said he would not read the whole judgement as it would take too long, but would summarise the main points.
He began by telling the court: “The issue for the court is not to decide whether Mr Terry is a racist - I have received unchallenged evidence he is not.
“The issue is whether Mr Terry uttered the words as an insult.“
However, the judge then went on to add that: “The only verdict the court can record is Not Guilty
“Even with all the help received, it is impossible to be sure exactly what were the words spoken by John Terry at the relevant time
“It is a crucial fact that nobody has given evidence about what Mr Terry said or how he said it.”
The Chief Magistrate went on to described Ferdinand as “brave” to give evidence and added that:  “Overall I found Anton Ferdinand to be a believable witness on the central issue.”