Assault case against former NI footballer Magilton adjourned

Last week Antrim Magistrates Court heard there was the possibility that a charge alleging that Magilton hit his teenage step daughter “a couple of slaps to the head and dragged her down the stairs by the arm” would be dropped and replaced with a police caution.

On Tuesday the retired soccer star’s solicitor said his office “would communicate that to Mr Magilton this morning by phone” so he was asking for a further week’s adjournment “to have that clarified,” which District Judge Oonagh Mullan acceded to.

Mr Magilton, (47) from Aberfoyle Gardens in Belfast, is accused of common assault against the teenager on January 7 this year.

A police officer gave evidence previously that it was the police case that Magilton allegedly hit the 14-year-old “a couple of slaps to the head and allegedly dragged her down the stairs by the arms”.

Defence solicitor Fearghal MacElhatton said Mr Magilton “isn’t accepting the allegations made against him,” that he gave a “full account” during police interviews and that the charge “will be contested in full”.

Currently the elite performance director at the IFA and manager of the NI under-21 team, Magilton started his playing career with Liverpool and remained with the club until 1990 when he joined Oxford Utd.

After scoring 34 goals from midfield in 150 league appearances, he signed for Southampton in 1994 and later moved to Sheffield Wednesday for two seasons before going briefly on loan to Ipswich Town in a move made permanent in 1999. His club career ended at Ipswich in 2006, having made over 250 league appearances. He moved into management at Ipswich, where he led the club for three years before managing QPR for a brief spell.

In his international career, Magilton earned 52 caps and scored five goals.

More recently he was appointed as a director at the IFA in 2013 and manager of the U-21 team in 2015.