Liverpool's Raheem Sterling given clean chit in assault case

Raheem Sterling and Jordan Henderson participate in a Liverpool training session

Liverpool wingman Raheem Sterling has had assault charges filed against him dropped, Sky Sports reports.

His ex-girlfriend’s evidence has been labelled as “disappointing” by prosecutors.

Liverpool Magistrate Court is understood to have received a report which accused Sterling of attacking his 19-year-old model girlfriend Shana Ann Rose Halliday after she questioned him about a text message on his phone.

Magistrates declined to treat Miss Halliday as a hostile witness, after which Crown Prosecution Service dropped its case against the player.

Prosecution has decided to drop the case because his former girlfriend failed to produce substantial evidence.

She said: “The crown would say that Miss Halliday has demonstrated an unwillingness to tell the truth about what has happened.”

Hilliday’s statements in court did not match the one she gave on the 999 call.

Stuart Driver QC, defending, stated that Halliday could not be declared as a hostile witness just because she gave “disappointing evidence”.

He said: “A hostile witness is just that; and it requires a lot more than a witness who disappoints the prosecution by saying things happened in a way that doesn’t amount to a criminal offence. That’s just what we have here.”

Halliday did not give satisfactory answers to the questions asked by the prosecutors.

She told the court: “We just had a heated argument because I seen a text on his phone and asked who it was. We were pushing and shoving, both of us, and I started it because I was trying to get his phone.”

Mr Driver added: “She has given evidence, slowly but in detail, and it’s unfavourable to the prosecution case. She is far from being a hostile witness.”

Anthony Leo, chairman of the bench, told the court: “Although she is an unfavourable witness for the prosecution, she is not hostile.”

After the bench decided its verdict, Miss Drysdale stated that there was “no longer a realistic prospect of conviction”.

Sterling was then cleared of all charges.