Police interview after Wolves fan Jamie Arnold jailed for six months for racially abusing Rio Ferdinand

Express & Star

Wolves fan Jamie Arnold has been jailed for six months and was given a seven year banning order after being found guilty of racially abusing former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand.  We interviewed PC Stuart Ward, of West Midlands Police, about the case.

Transcript

00:00 PC 21522 Ward, I'm based on the West Midlands Police Force for the Force Football Unit based

00:07 at Halzone Police Station. The incident relates back to May 2021, it was Wolverhampton Wondras

00:14 v Manchester United, it was a Premier League fixture played at the Molineux which is home

00:19 of Wolverhampton Wondras FC. The game started with a lot of optimism, people were back inside

00:28 the ground after Covid, limited numbers, social distancing and there was a good feel about

00:34 the game. The Wolves manager was present for his last game for the football club but unfortunately

00:44 the game changed very quickly and one individual, Jamie Arnold, started to hold racist abuse

00:51 and gestures towards Riyad Ferdinand who was working for BT Sports which is now TNT Sports

01:00 in the gantry. This was witnessed by numerous supporters that were in the ground, stewards

01:08 and close protection officers who reported it to the football club and the police. That

01:13 allowed Jamie Arnold to be identified quickly and he was arrested and taken into police

01:19 custody. How did Riyad Ferdinand's willingness to give evidence help the case? Again, really

01:28 important that he was willing to give a statement to the police along with all the other witnesses

01:34 that had seen and heard what Jamie Arnold had done. We thank every one of those witnesses

01:42 including Riyad Ferdinand because without those statements and those individuals providing

01:48 evidence it makes it even harder to get a successful outcome at court.

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