The BBC has ditched the former England footballer Trevor Sinclair as a pundit after he racially abused a police officer who had arrested him for drink-driving.
Sinclair has been a regular analyst on Football Focus and Match of the Day since retiring from the game in 2008 but the BBC said he was employed on a freelance basis and it had “no scheduled plans to use him on our programmes”.
The anti-racism charity Kick It Out said racism was “even more regrettable and unacceptable when it is perpetrated by individuals who should know better”. Sinclair has worked for another campaign group, Show Racism The Red Card.
Lord Ouseley, the chair of Kick It Out, said: “Trevor has proved to be a popular and successful role model in the past for the next generation of football players and supporters, and will no doubt wish to take the necessary steps to ensure that he never abuses again.”
Sinclair, 44, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to drink-driving and a racially aggravated public order offence on 12 November last year. He was sentenced to 150 hours of community service for the public order offence and handed a 20-month driving ban.
The prosecution dropped other charges including assault on a police officer, failing to provide a specimen and criminal damage.
Sinclair was arrested after being found to be more than twice the legal drink-drive limit, Blackpool magistrates court heard. Sinclair asked the arresting officer if he was being arrested because he was black, accused the police of racism and urinated in a police car. He continued making racist comments after he was taken to the cells at Blackpool police station.
Nick Freeman, representing Sinclair, said the catalyst for his behaviour that night was being subjected to racism in front of his family while out having a meal hours earlier. Freeman said a woman had approached Sinclair, patted him on the head and called him a “little chocolate man”.
Jim Mowbray, prosecuting, said that at 8.45pm on 12 November police were alerted to an incident at Sinclair’s home address and were told he had left in his Tesla car and he may have been drinking.
Patrols looking for him found his car stopped in the middle of the road in Clifton Drive, Blackpool, after it had been in collision with a woman who had stepped into Sinclair’s path after getting out of a taxi.
In a statement read to the court, PC Gareth Evans said: “I asked Mr Sinclair what had happened. It appeared to me he was drunk, unsteady on his feet and his eyes were glazed.”
Sinclair was given a roadside breath test and was found to be twice over the drink-driving limit, giving a reading of 72 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, with the limit being 35mg.
Sinclair was cautioned and arrested and a secure van was requested to attend. His behaviour then changed, the court heard.
Evans said in his statement: “Before his arrest he was very calm, polite and courteous. [Then] he started asking if it was because he was black. He started getting more confrontational, he was getting more aggressive. I did not like the direction the conversation was going in – he was accusing me of being racist. He began to become more agitated and aggressive.”
During a search the officer discovered Sinclair’s trousers were wet and that he had urinated while sitting in the police car.
When Sinclair was put in the back of the police van, he called the officer a “white …” followed by a swear word as the van doors slammed, the court was told.
Sinclair made further racist comments while in the back of the van and continued to be “obnoxious, aggressive and racist while being booked in”.
Evans’ statement concluded: “Sinclair’s behaviour following his arrest was awful. I’m not a racist. His behaviour was extremely racist.”
The district judge Jeff Brailsford told Sinclair: “In a truly civilised society racism has absolutely no place whatsoever. You have worked long hours to try to eradicate what is a real scourge in society. It’s also to enormous credit the work you do to try to get rid of racism.
“I don’t know how anybody copes with that sort of thing and comes through it unmarked. So it is particularly sad when events unfolded that night, the words you used that night. I’m confident, from all the things I have heard, you are unlikely to be troubling the police and courts again.”