Criminal charges against England Captain John Terry are disquieting

The criminal charges against England Captain John Terry are disquieting for three reasons:

1. The huge media coverage makes it appear impossible that he should receive a fair trial. In this country you are supposed to be innocent until proved guilty and yet many journalists are talking (in newspapers and on the BBC) as if he had already been found guilty and routinely bracketing his name with Luis Suarez who has already been found guilty of a similar offence (thus creating guilt by association, which is undermining to the principles of justice). Which makes me ask whether the Guardian’s treatment of John Terry is any different from the Sun’s hounding of Christopher Jefferies?

2. I don’t like the idea of trial-by-YouTube where candid moments are edited for dramatic content and presented before tens of millions of people for their titillation and comment. This seems uncomfortably Orwellian to me. I think you could film anyone (including Guardian journalists) in a moment of passion and they would say things that might be interpreted as technically illegal.

3. The complainant in the John Terry case is described variously as “a fan” and “a member of the public”. Did this person witness the incident personally or just watch it on YouTube? What motives does this person have in making this complaint (for instance, do they hope to gain a competitive advantage against Chelsea Football Club by knocking out their captain)? It is mandatory for the police to investigate all accusations of racial abuse, no matter how frivolous they may appear (for instance if someone were to complain about Greg Dyke calling the BBC “hideously white”, the police would be legally obliged to investigate whether Greg Dyke intended to describe white people as hideous), therefore it is not clear whether this case would ordinarily have come to court. It does seem ridiculous in several ways. Is it really desirable for the law to regulate the interactions of football players in the course of a football match?