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Platini Speaking of Terry Dolan.....
Hi, Tony Bell here. I used to write for CW mag.
Anyway, yes, it is Terry Dolan I am talking about in the feature about my court case, which appeared on my website. Sadly, because Dolan has been intimidating the guy who runs my website, we've had to take it off there. The reason I am pointing out that it is Terry Dolan is that some other names from the Merseyside scene have been mentioned, so I just wanted to clarify the situation.
Yes, it was Terry Dolan who made a complete T1t of himself at Accrington Magistrates Court, after pretending to be knocked out after he attacked me.
Tony Bell -
It's all getting a bit messy, init. Eh, calm down, calm down, etc ;)
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Tony Bell (by the way, where are the smilies on here, so I can assure you I am posting an 'amusing' reply?)
Some scally knicked 'em.
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You can always use the google cache facility..
- And then it was all over. Case dismissed. Charges dropped. And I didn’t even have to take the witness stand.
The WKMFTBI and I were both given a two year order not to discuss the events, or antagonise each other in anyway. That two years was up yesterday, so I just wanted to put the story straight, as the well known Merseysider from the bike industry has insisted on repeating his original allegation that I attacked him from behind.*
- And then it was all over. Case dismissed. Charges dropped. And I didn’t even have to take the witness stand.
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That seems to think the cached text is:
It should have been a great night. It was a celebration of British Cycling’s success on the world stage, and I was asked to go there to represent Cycling Weekly magazine by the editor.
It started off well - the usual thing, a dinner, followed by a presentation which highlighted the many victories of our riders, then we all headed off to the bar.
I was having a great time, chatting to people who I’ve known for years, and I was enjoying myself. I saw a well-known Merseysider from the bike industry standing near the bar with his back to me, so I walked over, put my hand on his shoulder and said ‘Alright *****? He turned round and said ‘Fuck Off’, which took me by surprise, to say the least. Let me explain.
There is a history with my family and this guy. My brother, Mark, was very close to him, and my other brother, Mike, worked for him in the early nineties.
I’ve known him since 1976, and while we were never the best of friends, I’d always thought we got on okay. He and Mark had fallen out a couple of years earlier, so I said: ’Look, I know you and Mark fell out, but I thought we were okay?’
He repeated his earlier suggestion that I should ‘Fuck Off‘, adding ‘Get out my face and get out my wife’s face.’
We had words, which ended up with me suggesting that we should go outside to settle it. He declined the invitation, and after a few more insults - from me, and from him - it was over. Or at least I thought it was.
Later that night, as everyone was leaving, I saw him again.
We were both staying in the hotel where the BC celebration had taken place, and I wanted to clear the air before I saw him the following morning. He walked past me with his wife, and I followed him from the bar into another room.
I called his name, and as I said it, he turned around, ran towards me and attacked me.
We ended up rolling around the floor like a pair of geriatric wrestlers, and I eventually managed to get on top of him.
I punched him three times in the face, and he immediately went limp. At this point his wife jumped on me and began clawing my face. It was over as soon as it began, and I returned to the bar, face clawed off, with a sore knee, the result of me landing on it when he charged me.
I was talking to a guy at the bar, and I realised that he was still on the floor, so I returned to the room where he was prostrate. As I approached him, my knee went , and I ended up on the floor. The next thing I knew, the police had arrived - as a result of his wife screaming for somebody to call them - and about 15 minutes later I was arrested.
The well-known Merseysider from the bike industry - who was claiming that he had been knocked unconscious after I ‘attacked him from behind’ - was doing a good impression of a very conscious person.
When somebody tried to help him up from the floor, he grabbed hold of him by the throat. Meanwhile, I was in a police van, being taken to the custody cells in Accrington. The officers were very nice to me, but insisted that I remove my belt from my trousers, my shoes, and even my LiveStrong yellow wristband. I was charged with common assault and locked in a cell for the night.
Anyway. The following morning I was taken to hospital in a police van as I could hardly walk. I was handcuffed the whole time, even when I was lying on a bed while a doctor inspected my knee. I was told it was severe bruising. Then I was taken back to the station and put back in the cell.
The duty solicitor arrived and I was taken to see him. He told me that if I admitted to the charge, I would receive a caution, and that would be it. This would have been the easiest thing to do - I could have walked away without a court case - but there was no way I was going to admit to what they had charged me with because I hadn’t done that.
I was eventually released at about 3 pm that day, and then I had the ordeal of waiting for the trial. This incident took place in November 2004. My trial at Accrington Magistrates Court was eventually heard on August 17 2005, and that is a long time when you are waiting to tell your side of the story.
So, we get to the day of the trial. My solicitor had warned me that, because of a lack of witnesses to the incident, I may be in trouble. With hindsight, this statement is amusing, but I was really concerned about the outcome of the trial, and what it would mean for me.
As it turned out, I needn’t have worried. . . I found out that, two months prior to my incident with the well-known Merseysider from the bike industry (WKMFTBI) had attacked a staff member of Cycling Weekly magazine. They had been part of a group of people enjoying a night out in London after the Islington Cycle Show, when the head-butted the guy from CW following a minor disagreement.
The CW guy reported the incident to the police, but didn’t press charges. And, I knew - because my brother Mark, who was working for him at the time had told me - that the WKMFTBI had been attending Anger Management sessons at a clinic on the Wirral.
Because I am a journalist, it was easy for me to find out which clinic he was attending, and the name of his counsellor there. I gave this information - about the attack on the CW guy, and the anger management sessions - to my solicitor.
And then we had the witness from British Cycling, the guy who had attempted to help the ‘unconscious’ WKMFTBI from the floor, only to be throttled by him. The situation was looking better for me, but I needn’t have worried anyway, as it transpired.
I was sitting in number two courtroom at Accrington Magistrates when the WKMFTBI came in and took his place at the witness stand. My solicitor hit him straight away with this: ‘You seem to be unfortunate in that you have been involved with these kind of incidents before, haven’t you?’
He feigned surprise and asked what he meant. My solicitor continued: ‘You were involved in an incident with ******* *******, when you head butted him, weren’t you?’
He again feigned surprise, then replied ‘’Er, we had a coming together after we had an argument.’
My solicitor said ‘A coming together? You head butted him, didn’t you? I must tell you that Mr ******* is sitting outside, and I can bring him in to tell his version of events.’
The WKMFTBI said nothing.
My solicitor then moved on to the events of the night when I was charged with common assault. He asked him to tell him what had happened.
He said: ‘I was walking to my bedroom with my wife when Tony Bell attacked me from behind. He knocked me unconscious after kicking me in the head.’
My solicitor asked him how he knew I had kicked him, and he replied ‘Because somebody told me later’.
The solicitor said ‘Who is this somebody? Do you have him or her here as a witness?
He said: ‘No, I don’t’.
‘So there was a witness to this alleged attack, and yet you didn’t think to contact them?’
The WKMFTBI replied. ’I was unconscious, wasn‘t I. Somebody told me later that someone had seen Bell kicking me.’
My solicitor said: ’Ah yes. You are claiming that you were unconscious, . . . I have a witness outside who will come in here to say how you grabbed him by the throat when he attempted to help you up from the floor. You said you were unconscious. How do you explain that?’
Once again, he said nothing.
Then my solicitor said: ‘You were attending anger management counselling, about five years ago, weren’t you?’
He denied this, so the solicitor gave him the location of the clinic and the name of the counsellor who had been working with him.
The WKMFTBI said: ’Oh, yes. I think I did have some anger management sessions. . . ’
The solicitor then changed tack, asking him why he and I didn’t get on.
He said: ‘I was riding a bike race, and I crashed on the last lap, just before the finish. Tony Bell was in the break, and when he rode back down the finish straight, he laughed at me.’
The solicitor asked how he knew I was laughing at him, and he replied ‘Because he phoned me the next day to apologise’.
I must point out that, yes, I did laugh at him and his team mates because they had crashed during the final sprint. There was a strong rivalry between his club and mine. But I did not phone to apologise.
This, I believe, was his way of ‘proving’ that I was the bad guy who had laughed at him after an accident.
The solicitor then asked him when this crash occurred.
He replied: ‘It was in 1977’.
The lawyer looked up at the ceiling and said: ‘So my client laughed at you 28 years ago, and then phoned you to apologise, and you still bear a grudge against him?’
At this point, the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) lawyer who was presenting the case against me had his head in his hands. There was then a bit of a kerfuffle with the clerk of the court talking to the magistrates, my solicitor and the CPS guy.
And then it was all over. Case dismissed. Charges dropped. And I didn’t even have to take the witness stand.
The WKMFTBI and I were both given a two year order not to discuss the events, or antagonise each other in anyway. That two years was up yesterday, so I just wanted to put the story straight, as the well known Merseysider from the bike industry has insisted on repeating his original allegation that I attacked him from behind.
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Anyway, the frame for life thing didn't work out too well! Oct 07-Mar 09 R.I.P.
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Frame for Life! (Dolan, maybe)
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@wappingwarrior
I was in Brixton Cycles on Saturday cadging tools to swap over my chainset, and saw the Filimore.
It looks great... I am a big fan of Brixton Cycles. Would recommend them them - always good for a bit of advice and a pointer in the right direction...