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John Terry faces police probe
JOHN TERRY was last night at the centre of a formal police investigation into claims that he racially abused QPR defender Anton Ferdinand – which could rule the England skipper out of this month’s friendlies against Spain and Sweden.
The Metropolitan Police have spent a week assessing a complaint from a member of the public and last night announced that they are launching a formal investigation.
The FA refused to comment on the development. But the involvement of the police now casts fresh doubt over whether Terry would be picked for England while a top-level investigation is ongoing.
Fabio Capello names his squad on Sunday night and, while no charges have been levelled against Terry, the England manager must carefully weigh up whether it is right to pick his captain.
Chelsea skipper Terry has denied making a racist remark to Ferdinand during last month’s derby at Loftus Road.
He said Ferdinand had accused him of making a racist remark, but insisted his own response was actually a denial and not racist in any way.
England manager Fabio Capello must carefully weigh up whether it is right to pick his captain
Now Terry and Ferdinand are certain to be questioned by police, who will look to gather witness statements in the coming days.
An independent FA investigation will be delayed until the Met have completed their enquiries.
The police decision followed news earlier in the day that Ferdinand had been targeted with racist abuse on his Twitter account.
Ferdinand retweeted messages of support sent to him – but also one that was a shocking racist jibe.
Newcastle also confirmed that they alerted police yesterday after their striker Sammy Ameobi, younger brother of Shola, was also racially abused on the social networking site.