Footballer gets 18 months after sex assault on woman

PREMIER League footballer Marlon King has been jailed for 18 months for groping a young woman in a nightclub and then breaking her nose after she spurned his “disgusting” advances.

The striker, who was celebrating both his wife’s pregnancy and scoring a winning goal hours earlier, was repeatedly “cold-shouldered” by women in London’s packed Soho Revue Bar last December.

When a slightly built university student also recoiled from his touch, he lost his temper and in an outburst of “completely gratuitous violence” lashed out, “smashing” her to the floor.

His single clenched fist blow was so powerful that two other people — one of them holding on to his arm — were also sent flying.

While bouncers moved in to restrain the muscular £5 million player, friends rushed to the aid of his victim. As she was helped to her feet, blood poured from her shattered nose, London’s Southwark Crown Court heard.

The 29-year-old, from Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, claimed he was a victim of “mistaken identity”. But after hearing overwhelming evidence from a string of witnesses, including a football coach who insisted he was the assailant, the jury decided he was lying.

He was unanimously convicted of sexually assaulting the 20-year-old and causing actual bodily harm.

Wigan chairman Dave Whelan confirmed last night that King will never play for the club again.