Twist in Sam Kerr court case as London police officer accused of changing story

A court has heard the London police officer bringing charges against Sam Kerr only said the Aussie soccer star’s description of him as “f****** stupid and white” distressed him “purely to get a criminal charge over the line”.

In his original statement, PC Lovell made no mention of her abuse having an impact on him. It was added in a second statement 11 months later after he requested a review of the Crown Prosecution Service’s decision not to take the case to trial.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Kerr’s lawyer accuses cop of changing his story to get charge over the line.

A jury of eight women and four men in Kingston Crown Court in London heard police constable Stephen Lovell reject a claim by Kerr’s counsel, Grace Forbes.

A remorseful Sam Kerr admitted she was drunk, angry and scared and should have “just walked away and gone home” and avoided a row with London police officers that ended with her arrest.

“I wish I had just gone home. Wish I had walked away and dealt with it in the morning,” Kerr said in an audio recording of an interview conducted on the night of January 30, 2023, after her arrest in the early hours that day.

Australia’s women’s football captain attended the second day of her trial with her parents, Roger and Roxanne, and brother, Levi, facing charges of racially aggravated harassment with intent to cause alarm or distress.

The offence, if convicted, carries a maximum sentence of 26 weeks in jail.

Kerr was arrested after a night out with her partner, US international soccer star Kristie Mewis, celebrating a hat trick Kerr had scored for Chelsea.

The night turned sour when a taxi driver called police after Kerr vomited in the cab and Mewis broke a passenger window in the belief the pair were being held hostage, the court has heard.

Police arrived to see Kerr climbing out of the window, her hands cut and bloodied.

The pair, described as “inebriated, emotional and in distress,” were then interviewed in the police station during which Kerr and her partner accused the police of taking the taxi driver’s word against theirs.

Ultimately, given the choice of paying for the fare and damages, or being arrested for criminal damage and taking the matter to court, Kerr opted for the latter.

In the build-up, she had twice called PC Lovell “f****** stupid and white” and was placed under arrest for the racially aggravated public order offence.

The criminal damage element was dropped soon after, with the £900 ($A1800) being paid.

Second statement hams up ‘humiliation’

In PC Lovell’s second statement, made in December 2023, he said Kerr’s comments left him “shocked, upset” and he “immediately felt humiliated”.

The references to his race went “too far and I took great offence to them”.

Kerr’s counsel suggested PC Lovell “had taken against Kerr from the outset,” which he denied, though he agreed he “was determined to pursue this person”.

Forbes also suggested the sight of Kerr playing for Australia at the Women’s World Cup and being “all over TV” may have influenced him to challenge the decision not to charge the Matildas skipper, however, he said he was not a football fan and had not been aware of the tournament.

PC Lovell did admit the exchange with Kerr was at times “childish” and should have been cut short but denied the suggestion he had “made assumptions Kerr was a troublemaker, was difficult and arrogant”.

‘I wish I had just gone home’

In the police interview, which Kerr attended voluntarily and without a lawyer, she said: “I was obviously intoxicated. I shouldn’t have been so front-footed, but I did not feel protected in that moment. I felt very threatened.”

She said she was “not at all intending to make (PC Lovell) feel harassed, alarmed, threatened,” adding: “The whole situation was stressful for everyone, my partner is crying, I have been crying, we all felt distressed.

“I wish I had just gone home. I felt very angry with how (Mewis) was being treated, too. I wish I had walked away and dealt with it in the morning.”

Asked what she would say to PC Lovell she replied: “Just ‘sorry’. I understand he is doing his job. I apologise for a situation where they had to stay there so long and deal with two very angry girls in a situation probably not to be resolved in that moment, so I apologise for the whole event.”

The trial continues, with Kerr expected to give evidence on Wednesday.