England footballer John Terry has appeared in court charged with the racial abuse of QPR player Anton Ferdinand on the pitch.

Terry denies racially abusing Ferdinand in response to taunts about an alleged affair with a former teammate’s partner.

The Chelsea defender arrived at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday, July 9, to face the racially aggravated public order offence charge.

Dressed in a grey suit and pink tie, the Oxshott resident, who trains at Chelsea’s facilities in Cobham, faced a swarm of photographers and journalists outside court, but made no comment as he entered.

Terry, 31, denies the accusation that he made the offensive comment during a Premier League match at Loftus Road on October 31 last year.

Footage of the alleged comment was played in court and lip reader Sue Whiteley told the court she could make out certain words.

Prosecutor Duncan Penny said: “The Crown alleges that the words he used demonstrated hostility based on Mr Ferdinand's membership or presumed membership of a racial group.”

The incident on the pitch was initially accepted as “handbags”, the court heard, but Ferdinand later decided Terry had racially abused him when his girlfriend showed him footage of the incident on YouTube that evening.

Ferdinand said there “would have been an altercation somewhere” if he had heard Terry’s comment while he was on the pitch.

He said: “It’s very hurtful when someone brings the colour of your skin into it.”

Terry accepted he used those words, but the defence will claim they were a “sarcastic exclamation or inquiry to a perceived false accusation”, the court heard.

The trial continues.