Jury considers verdict in trial of former footballer

A JURY has retired to consider its verdict in the trial of a former Premier League footballer accused of headbutting his sister in a drink-fuelled attack.

Calum Davenport, a former West Ham United defender, allegedly launched the attack on his 28-year-old sister Cara after being told she was pregnant again.

Luton Crown Court heard that on 22 August last year a heated row erupted between Davenport and his sister at her home in Bedford about how she was going to financially support her second child once it was born.

The 27-year-old is then accused of calling his sister a "form of cancer" and a "whore" before grabbing her by the throat and bundling her to the ground.

Beverly Cripps, prosecuting, said he then repeatedly headbutted his sister, who was seven weeks pregnant, and bit her cheek as his father Curtis looked on.

She then phoned her boyfriend, Worrell Whitehurst, 25, who tracked her brother down and stabbed him in both legs, leaving him with career-threatening injuries.

Davenport, from Bedford, denies actual bodily harm, claiming he was only trying to restrain his sister after she started punching their father.

Whitehurst, of Derby, admitted grievous bodily harm and unlawful wounding at an earlier hearing. He will be sentenced at a later date.