Cantona's kung-fu kick victim facing jail for assualt
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Cantona's kung-fu kick victim facing jail for assualt
The football fan Eric Cantona kung-fu kicked more than 15 years ago was found guilty yesterday of punching another man at a match.
Matthew Simmons, 36, faces jail for battering Stuart Cooper, whom he blamed for dropping his son from an under-8s team because of the Cantona incident.
Simmons denied assault causing actual bodily harm and claimed he acted in self defence after Mr Cooper called him a “Nazi thug”.
But jurors at Kingston crown court found him guilty after hearing Mr Cooper, whom Simmons had not seen for years, had bruises and a bloody nose after the attack at a park football game.
Judge Michael Hopmeier bailed Simmons, of Thornton Heath, South London, until May 9 for sentencing and told him he faced jail.
He added: “This was an assault in a public place and an aggravating factor is that there were young people in the vicinity.”