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Ex-Northern Ireland footballer cleared of groping pensioner on bus

Sammy Nelson joined Arsenal at 16 and turned professional aged 17
Sammy Nelson joined Arsenal at 16 and turned professional aged 17 Sammy Nelson joined Arsenal at 16 and turned professional aged 17

A FORMER Northern Ireland international has been cleared of groping a pensioner on a bus after a boozy afternoon watching an Arsenal match.

Samuel Nelson - known as Sammy - was accused of grabbing the woman between the legs on the evening of October 28.

The 69-year-old was cleared of one count of sexual assault for the alleged incident on the packed park-and-ride bus from Brighton city centre.

Belfast-born Nelson, who now lives in Hove, asked the woman, who is in her seventies, whether she and her friends were on their way "back to the nursing home" and started chatting to the group about his football career.

The complainant told Brighton Magistrates' Court she had been returning from a Beethoven concert when Nelson groped her after they had been making small talk for a few minutes.

"All of a sudden this hand came down between my legs with some force around my pubic and vaginal area," she said.

"I was absolutely shocked and really angry and I said, 'If you do that again I will give you such a slap'.

"About 10 minutes later he did exactly the same thing again - I asked him to move away from me as he was invading my personal space."

The court was shown a clip of the bus ride during which Nelson apparently picks up the woman's hand and either kisses it or presses it to his face.

He then apparently nudges her with his elbow.

The complainant insisted that she had not held hands or even touched Nelson before the alleged assault, even though she was repeatedly shown the CCTV.

She denied assertions that Nelson had merely touched her hip, but admitted neither of her companions noticed the alleged assault.

She claimed after the second alleged assault Nelson moved seats, although he did not appear to move on the CCTV footage.

When he was interviewed by police, Nelson said he could not really remember the incident.

He told the court he had probably made a couple of tongue-in-cheek comments about the passengers age as "a bit of craic".

Nelson denied ever groping the complainant, saying the first he heard of the alleged sexual assault was during a police interview on January 25.

His son Peter Nelson said he did not see anything untoward happen on the bus.

Magistrate Peter Sutton said the bench had been "initially impressed" with the complainant's evidence but cited inconsistencies between her account and the CCTV footage.

"There is no evidence of the events as described by the complainant," he said, adding the footage "shows the conversation and laughter continues between the parties".

At a previous hearing, Nelson admitted one count of assault by beating relating to pressing the complainant's hand to his mouth for which he was given an absolute discharge.

Nelson joined Arsenal at 16 and turned professional aged 17.

He notched up 338 appearances for the Gunners, playing in all three successive FA Cup finals between 1978-1980.

He also bagged 51 international caps, including two during the 1982 World Cup.