Matildas star’s night out ended in a row with a cab driver and her allegedly being abusive to PC Stephen Lovell

Sam Kerr called a Metropolitan police officer “fucking stupid and white” after he doubted her claim of being abducted by a taxi driver, a court has heard.

Kerr, 31, the captain of the Australian women’s football team and Chelsea’s star striker, appeared in Kingston crown court on Monday charged with causing racially aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress in Twickenham, south-west London, on 30 January 2023.

Bill Emlyn Jones, for the prosecution, told the court that Kerr, whom he described as a “fantastic football player”, and her partner, Kristie Mewis, who is also a professional football player, had been on a night out in Clapham, south-west London, before hailing a black cab.

Once inside, one of them was sick. The driver asked them to pay for the cost of cleaning it up but they refused. After this, the driver called the police to complain about their behaviour and drove them to the Twickenham police station – instead of the original destination of Kerr’s home – on the advice of the emergency responder over the phone.

On the way to the station, the taxi’s rear window was smashed.

PC Stephen Lovell and PC Samuel Limb were in a marked police vehicle driving towards the station and arrived at the same time as the taxi, about 2.20am.

They saw broken glass on the road and a taxi parked up as they approached the station. The taxi driver honked his horn to alert the approaching officers.

Kerr allegedly climbed out of the broken taxi window before she and Mewis approached the police car. They were taken inside the station while the taxi driver was kept outside.

Inside the station, Kerr told Lovell that she thought the pair were being kidnapped before calling the officer “fucking stupid and white”.

Speaking to the court, Lovell recalled the events of the night. Upon inspection of the taxi, he said “the bit of plastic that separates the passenger and driver’s seat” looked as if it had been kicked.

After taking the pair inside the station, he said he “kept getting interrupted” and called Kerr “quite abusive”. He explained to them that they must pay the taxi driver for the damage they caused to his cab. In response, Lovell said Kerr “showed me her bank account on her phone”.

In body-worn camera footage showing the pair visibly intoxicated inside the police station, Kerr claimed the taxi driver was “holding us against our will” and that the pair were being “held hostage in that cab”.

Kerr said the taxi driver had been driving around for 20 minutes and “kept stopping and speeding up, stopping and speeding up”. Lovell said what the taxi driver had done, based on their words, did not constitute any offence.

The pair claimed they had called the police while in the taxi, and Kerr repeatedly told Lovell to “listen to the recording” but officers said they had no record of the call. Kerr said neither she or her girlfriend, who is American, are from the UK, “so we don’t know the police number”.

Kerr claimed they had got through to the police but the operator hung up. She continued to say she would not pay for the damage caused to the taxi, saying: “I’m not paying for some fucking dodgy cunt’s fucking window.”

Kerr said: “This is a racial fucking thing. You are believing that guy out the front over £50. Listen to the fucking recording, this stupid cunt wouldn’t let us go.”

She also accused the police of believing the taxi driver over “two women” and made multiple references to Sarah Everard, who was kidnapped, raped and murdered by a Metropolitan police officer.

Kerr told Lovell to “put your shoes in a female’s shoes. We were trapped for 20 minutes in this guy’s car”.

She went on: “You have to understand the emergency that both of us felt. Look at what happened last time when a woman accepted a police officer’s help in Clapham and got raped and killed.”

Kerr also said she would “get the Chelsea fucking lawyers on this”. Mewis claimed the pair had told the taxi driver that they would pay him if he stopped, but he kept driving.

After Lovell reiterated that they had no record of the pair calling 999, Kerr said: “You guys are stupid and white, you guys are fucking stupid and white.” Kerr then looked up at Lovell and said: “I’m looking you in the eyes, I’m looking you in the eyes, you guys are fucking stupid.”

Lovell responded: “Why are you bringing race into this?”

Kerr said: “I’m fucking over this shit. This is the world’s fucking problem. Wait on the call, wait on the call, wait on the call.”

After these comments, Kerr was arrested for criminal damage and a racially aggravated public order. During her arrest, she told Lovell: “Believe women for once.” The criminal damage charge was dropped after the damage to the taxi was paid for.

Grace Forbes, defending Kerr, said: “Nobody disputes the words that were said. But simply saying words, even words like these, does not make you guilty of a criminal offence. Sam Kerr did not feel hostile towards this officer because he is white.

“The law is a little more nuanced, a little more human than that,” she added.

The trial continues.