Irish footballer ‘lost it’ when bouncer insulted him

DUBLIN-BORN footfootballer Des Byrne, who is accused of attacking a nightclub bouncer, yesterday said he had “lost it” when a doorman insulted him for being Irish.

Wimbledon player Byrne, 21, said bouncer Trevor Thirlwall, 28, insulted him for being Irish and then punched him several times in the head in an unprovoked assault.

The defender admitted throwing a bottle in the street afterwards, but claimed it was because he was “frustrated and angry” after being attacked and denied aiming it at anyone. Byrne is accused of attacking Mr Thirlwall with his friends, Chelsea stars John Terry and Jody Morris, at the exclusive Wellington club in Knightsbridge, central London, on January 4. Terry is accused of glassing Mr Thirlwall in the face during the attack, alleged to have been launched after the players were ejected from the club for unruly behaviour.

Giving evidence on the ninth day of the footballers’ trial at the Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court in London, Byrne said he could not understand why they had been thrown out of the club. He said: “When the doorman said the things he said, I lost it a little bit.”

Prosecutor Jeremy Donne said: “You wanted to have that doorman, didn’t you?” But Byrne denied this, replying: “Have him, for what, dinner?” Byrne said: “I think we all wanted to go back in, to be fair, we hadn’t done anything wrong. Jody said if the owner came up we might be able to get back inside, I just told Jody we'd go and get him, but Jody said he’d tried. So I thought f**k it, I'll go and get him.

“One of the doormen turned round and said ‘Just go home you f***ing Irish p***k. I got a little angry. It just came out of nowhere.” Byrne said he tried to go through the doorway into the club so he could be “face to face” with the doorman to tell him he was “out of order.” He claimed one bouncer, Shaun Brice, then grabbed him before Mr Thirlwall started punching him. He said: “The doorman gave me a dig in the head, I fell backwards out of the doorway, I wasn’t expecting a punch. I was angry and I just wanted to get back in and tell him he was out of order.”

When the fracas broke up Byrne saw a bottle lying near his feet. He said: “I remember picking it up, f***ing it on the floor, I just smashed it on the floor in the direction the others were heading.”

The trial was adjourned until tomorrow.