Chelsea's Ashley Cole unlikely to be charged after air rifle accident

Posted Thursday, March 10, 2011 by theguardian.com

• Club's left-back shot student at training ground
• Police sources suggest he will escape charge

Chelsea's Ashley Cole unlikely to be charged after air rifle accident
Ashley Cole could be fined up to two weeks wages for the incident which took place at Chelsea's training ground.

Ashley Cole is set to escape a police charge after accidentally shooting a student on work placement at Chelsea last month with a .22 calibre air rifle.

Surrey police visited the Premier League champions' base at Cobham last week after details of the shooting were exposed by a Sunday newspaper. Neither Cole nor the student wounded in the incident, Tom Cowan, was interviewed but, while inquiries technically remain ongoing, police sources have indicated that no charge is now likely to be brought against the England defender.

Cole is understood to have accidentally shot the 21-year-old Cowan in his side on Sunday 20 February, 24 hours after Chelsea had been eliminated from the FA Cup by Everton, in an incident in the training ground's changing rooms, with the Loughborough University student requiring attention on site from Chelsea's medical team. The player subsequently apologised to the intern, the club's hierarchy and his team-mates.

Cowan has been granted a period of leave since, with Chelsea alleging their own investigation into the matter was under way before the incident was made public by the News of the World, by which time the full-back had played in a midweek Champions League win over Copenhagen. There was never any possibility that Cole's contract at the club would be torn up in the wake of the embarrassment, though Chelsea indicated he would be subject to internal discipline which could lead to his being fined the maximum of two weeks' wages, amounting to £220,000, for his indiscipline.

The club's manager, Carlo Ancelotti, revealed his anger and disappointment at the 30-year-old's behaviour last week, while tempering his criticisms with an admission that Cole remains "one of the best professionals" with whom he has worked over his career and that the club would support rather than "kill him" for his misdemeanour.

Cole, the England supporters' player of the year for 2010 and his country's most capped full-back after making his 87th appearance against Denmark last month, has since played in the victories over Manchester United and Blackpool in the Premier League.