Former sergeant knocked out by footballer makes #750,000 claim against

force and club.

THE career of a woman police sergeant was wrecked when a Celtic player

crashed into her during a football match and knocked her unconscious, a

judge heard yesterday.

Former sergeant Rachel Gillon, who became a police cadet at the age of

16, is claiming #750,000 from the Chief Constable of Strathclyde, and

Airdrie Football Club, where she was injured in November 1991.

Lord Coulsfield heard at the Court of Session that, at the time of the

incident at an Airdrie v Celtic game, Mrs Gillon, 35, was on crowd

control round the park perimeter.

She said she had been instructed that this meant facing the crowd at

all times and that officers seen watching the game would be liable for

disciplinary measures. As she was walking the perimeter track, watching

the crowd, a fight broke out. By radio she instructed two colleagues to

deal with that incident and stood facing the crowd as she had been

instructed.

''Suddenly and without warning'', she was hit from behind with great

force by Tony Cascarino as he chased after a ball that had run off the

field of play. She was knocked out and woke up in Monklands District

Hospital in great pain. She was sent home after being X-rayed but later

felt considerable pain in her upper body, right lower back, and right

leg which restricted her freedom of movement.

She returned to work in March 1992, carrying out only light duties,

but because of continuing pain went on sick leave on May 1. She was

medically retired from the police force in December that year and has

not been able to work since.

Mrs Gillon, a mother of two boys aged one and seven, of Glencairn

Road, Langbank, Renfewshire, claims that, since the Broomfield incident,

her life has changed for the worse. She can no longer swim or jog or

enjoy the pleasure of a rough and tumble with her young son. She gave

birth to another son in July last year and said that the extra activity

involved in looking after the baby had caused her further discomfort and

distress.

She said the only medical treatment available was the continued use of

pain-killing tablets and physiotherapy, which provided only short-term

relief. She also alleged that she had become ''morose, depressed,

anxious, and upset'' because she had to give up her promising career in

which she was earning #21,500 a year and her promotion prospects were

first rate.

According to Mrs Gillon, her personality had changed from being a

successful, contented person to being introspective, occasionally

disorganised, and irritable.

In her action, she blamed the chief constable on the basis that it was

his responsibility to devise a safe system of work for officers under

his command when they were policing football grounds. She said he should

have ensured that staff patrolling football grounds had instructions to

pay attention from time to time to what was happening on the field of

play, particularly because of the physical limitations of Airdrie's

Broomfield ground.

If this had been the policy, Mrs Gillon claimed, she might have become

aware of the looming collision with Cascarino, who has since left the

club, and avoided the accident.

In her claim against Airdrie, she said the club should also have taken

reasonable care for the safety of police working at the ground. She

contended that the track surrounding the field of play at Broomfield was

extremely narrow and that there was no separation of the perimeter track

and the pitch.

She argued that a number of measures could have been taken, such as

widening the track, building a small segregation barrier, or placing

advertising hoardings between the field of play and the running track.

Airdrie denied liability and Mr Derek Emslie, QC, counsel for the

club, asked Lord Coulsfied to dismiss Mrs Gillon's claims as irrelevant

on four grounds. He argued that there were no relevant claims to

indicate:

* That there was a foreseeable risk of injury.

* That the failure to build a separating wall or barrier at the edge

of the pitch represented a failure on Airdrie's part to take reasonable

care.

* That a failure to widen the track at Broomfield represented a

failure to take reasonable care.

* There were no sufficiently specific claims to indicate how and by

how much the track should have been widened.

In the case against the chief constable, who also denied liability, it

has been agreed that evidence should be heard in Mrs Gillon's claim.

Lord Coulsfield will give his decision in writing later.