Man found guilty of headbutting ex-football hardman Roy Keane is appealing his conviction
A MAN found guilty of headbutting football hard man Roy Keane is appealing his conviction.
Scott Law, 43, was convicted last month of assaulting the former Man United captain at a match last September.
A judge ruled Law had headbutted the pundit and pushed him through doors at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium for cheering a United goal.
The married dad of two, who claimed he was acting in self-defence, was given a 12-month community order and a three-year match ban.
Following the sentencing, civil engineer Law declined to comment when asked if he was sorry for the attack, but his lawyer confirmed he is planning to appeal the conviction.
Reading a statement outside the court on his client’s behalf, Charles Sherrard KC said: “Given that I was found guilty by a judge who excluded me, at times, from my own trial, and by a prosecution that deprived me of key footage for my defence, I most definitely plan to appeal this conviction.”
During the trial, Law was accused of making an “obscene gesture” at the star, before walking up to the lift lobby at club level, where he launched what Prosecutor Simon Jones KC described as a “shocking and unlawful attack”.
Giving evidence Keane said: “I was just walking and before I knew it, I was hit. I was absolutely not expecting it.”
He added: “The only way I can describe it is that I was in shock. I didn’t expect it to happen, not when I was in my workplace.”
Now Law, of Waltham Abbey, Essex, has lodged an appeal against both his conviction and sentence.
A date for the hearing at Snaresbrook Crown Court, East London, has yet to be set.