A former Inverness Caledonian Thistle player convicted of a road rage attack on a female friend after she accidentally crashed into his car has been jailed for nine months.
Former Under-17s England player Riccardo Calder, who was once on Aston Villa’s books but latterly a defender with Caley Thistle, was convicted of assault occasioning actually bodily harm after a trial last month.
His barrister told the court Calder was immediately sacked from his £600-a-week job by the Scottish Championship side, on conviction.
Yesterday, he was jailed for what the sentencing judge called a “complete and utter loss of temper” in an attack which unfolded over the course of three minutes.
Caley Thistle sack Riccardo Calder after the midfielder is found guilty of attacking a woman
CCTV played at the trial showed him confronting the woman in the car park of The Horseshoe Pub in Kings Heath, Birmingham, shortly after 4am on May 7.
In what the judge described as a “repeated and sustained attack”, the 22-year-old rained punches through the victim’s open window before kicking her.
At one stage, he partially dragged the student nurse from her car, threw her forcefully back into the driver’s seat, pulling off one of her shoes and throwing it back into the vehicle.
The victim, 24, who knew Calder and had in the past been to Scotland to see him, described pleading with him during the assault “you’re going to kill me”.
Calder, of Kings Heath, a suburb of Birmingham, also took the victim’s house and car keys and mobile phone, leaving her to walk home.
The items were later returned through an acquaintance.
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The mother-of-one suffered two black eyes, cuts and bruises, and a fractured thumb, which needed hospital treatment, the court heard.
She later sent text messages to a mutual friend, in which she asked for £5,000 not to go to the police.
Calder rang the police alleging that a woman was trying to get compensation out of him by falsely claiming he had attacked her.
Sentencing Calder at Birmingham Crown Court, Judge Mark Wall QC told him: “I have no doubt that telephone call was made so you could get your defence in.
“I do not accept that her actions in colliding with your car were any justification for what was a complete and utter loss of temper.
“There are too many aggravating features and the complete loss of temper, which means this is a lesson that can only be properly taught through immediate custody.”
Abdul Iqbal QC, in mitigation, said: “He had a promising career having scored goals and played in defence.
“This young man, who had that career ahead of him, now finds himself in a position where that footballing career is very uncertain indeed.
“It’s unlikely any professional football club will entertain seriously any application for him to join them.
“Whatever the sentence, this young man has really fallen a very long way indeed.”
Members of Calder’s family, including his mother, in court for sentencing, wept as he was taken to the cells.