Pub assault by ex-Luton and Chelsea star caught on CCTV

It is said to have happened in a Dunstable pub after the man had told the former goalscoring legend “F... off fatso.”

Earlier, it’s claimed the man approached Mr Dixon in the pub’s lavatory and said “You’re a drug dealer, have you got any drugs?”

The attack by the 53-year-old ex-striker, of Jardine Way, Dunstable, was captured on the pub’s CCTV system.

In the footage Mr Dixon is seen punching 38-year-old father-of-two Ben Scoble in the face sending him to the ground.

Mr Dixon is then shown bending over his alleged victim and deliver more punches and kicks.

The clip was played at Luton Crown Court on Tuesday when Mr Dixon went on trial pleading not guilty to assaulting Mr Scoble occasioning him actual bodily harm in the early hours of May 15 last year.

The court was told Mr Dixon will be claiming he feared he was about to be attacked and struck out in a “pre-emptive strike” in self defence.

Simon Stirling, prosecuting, said Mr Dixon told police who later interviewed him he had continued to hit the other man “to make sure he stayed down and no longer presented a threat to him.”

The incident took place at around 12 40am in The Nags Head in High Street North.

Outlining the prosecution’s case against the former footballer, Mr Stirling said Mr Scoble, a builder, had been in the pub that evening drinking with a friend. Also there was Mr Dixon and his girlfriend.

The jury were told that at some point during the evening there may have been a conversation in the pub’s lavatory between Mr Scoble and Mr Dixon which the former footballer “took exception to.”

It’s alleged that a short while later Mr Scoble was sitting at the bar where Mr Dixon and his girlfriend had previously been sitting.

The CCTV footage then showed Mr Dixon take Mr Scoble’s pint of beer from the bar and take it to a nearby table.

Moments later the jury saw the ex-footballer throw a flurry of punches, knocking Mr Scoble to the floor and continuing the attack.

He is then seen to remove an empty pint glass that was still in Mr Scoble’s hand and place it on the bar before walking out

The jury were told Mr Scoble suffered a cut lip and two of his front teeth were loosened.

Five days after the incident Mr Dixon was interviewed by police and said that in the pub’s lavatory, Mr Scoble had asked him if he had any drugs.

He said he felt the builder and his friend were being antagonistic towards him and he said when he asked him why he was sitting on the stool where he and his girlfriend had been sitting, he was met with the reply “f... off fatso”

Mr Dixon then claimed that because of an empty glass that was in Mr Scoble’s left hand he was frightened and struck first in a “pre-emotive strike.”

Mr Stirling went on: “He said as a pre-emptive strike he went to hit him and continued to hit him again to make sure he stayed on the ground and no longer presented a threat to him?”

The court was told Mr Dixon then removed the glass from the other man’s left hand and placed it on the bar.

“In essence he says he was acting in self defence and that is the issue you will have to concentrate on,” said Mr Stirling.

He told the jury the questions they would have to ask were was it necessary to use force, did he honestly believe he was under threat and about to be attacked and was the force proportionate?

In the witness box Mr Scoble, who lives in East London, said as he left the pub’s lavatory he had noticed a pint of beer on a window sill and as Mr Dixon was nearby offered it to him.

He said he had no recollection of approaching Mr Dixon in the pub and asking him if he had any drugs.

Mark Wyeth QC, defending, told Mr Scoble that having been out drinking since around 6pm that evening he was out to provoke Mr Dixon that night and had “disrespected” him in the toilets.

The barrister said when Mr Dixon had asked him to move from the seat where he and his girlfriend had been sitting his responce had been “f... off fatso. I don’t give a f... who you are either.”

Mr Scoble replied: “I deny that”.

Mr Wyeth said it was because of the manner in which Mr Scoble had been gripping the empty glass in his left hand, that his client had decided to disarm him and had used force to get him to release it.

Mr Wyeth told Mr Scoble he had “presented a clear and present danger” to Mr Dixon and that’s why he had struck him.

Mr Scoble replied: “I don’t accept that.”

Case proceeding