English Premier League footballer jailed for assault on woman

A 29-year-old English football player has been sentenced to 18 months in jail after a brutal assault on a young woman who shunned him in a club.

Marlon King, who was earning £35,000 a week as a top flight footballer, was jailed after a jury found him guilty of groping and young woman and then breaking her nose. King, a striker worth £5 million, apparently launched his attack after being repeatedly ignored by women on a night out at the Soho Revue Bar in London in December of 2008. King then attempted to chat up a young university student who apparently "recoiled" at his touch. King was then said to have lashed out and knocked the girl to the floor. As the twenty-year old victim was helped up from the floor blood poured from her broken nose and burst lip. Under an hour after being jailed, King, who is now claiming "mistaken identity", was sacked by his football club Wigan Athletic. King, from Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire will now lose more than a £1 million due to his contract being terminated. Despite his calls that it was "mistaken identity" it took a jury at Southwark Crown Court in London, less than four hours to return with a majority of 10-2, convicting King with sexual assault and causing his victim actual bodily harm.