CCTV a ‘tool to blackmail’ Liverpool captain Gerrard

CCTV footage of a street fracas involving Liverpool footballer Steven Gerrard was taken by an off-duty policewoman to be used as a “tool for blackmail,” a court heard.

The Premier League star, then captain of England, acted as peacemaker when his friends became involved in a row with another group of men at a bar near his home in Formby, Merseyside, on August 4, 2013.

The incident, following an evening out to celebrate Gerrard’s testimonial at Liverpool FC, spilled out onto the street and was captured on a bank’s CCTV nearby, Preston Crown Court heard.