Goalkeeper "disappointed" after police close brawl case (From Brentwood Weekly News)

Goalkeeper "disappointed" after police close brawl case

12:46pm Monday 29th October 2012 in News

A GOALKEEPER who was paralysed in a fight at the Sugar Hut has spoken of his disappointment that Essex Police have shut the case a year on and not charged anybody.

Nicky Morgan, 26, who played for Billericay Town for a year-and-a-half, was left unable to walk after he was knocked to the ground and his forehead smashed the side of a kerb after a night out on Friday, October 28.

Essex Police arrested a 34-year-old man from Sittingbourne in December last year in connection with the incident and he was released from his bail without charge on Thursday.

Mr Morgan, who now lives in Buckhurst Hill, spent six months recovering at the spinal unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire and can now walk and live an independent life.

He said: “It was really disappointing to hear a year on that nothing was going to be done about it. My life has totally changed since the moment this happened and things will never be the same again.

“It’s soul destroying. I cannot work at the moment and cannot play football which were the two things I always did.

“I can walk now and am independent but there are no many normal things which I cannot do now that I did before. I may look alright but life has totally changed.

“It’s a bit of a joke that after a year of an investigation the police can come back and say that there is not enough evidence to charge anyone.

“The police didn’t even call me personally to tell me, they called my brother to say that there was going to be no charges in the investigation.

“I cannot believe a whole year has passed since it happened, it has been a tough time and sometimes I never thought I would get to where I am now.

“My family and friends were all vying for me to get better and that is what spurred me on to do as well as I could.”

Nicky made an emotional return to Billericay in April when he walked onto the pitch and he is now doing goalkeeping coaching at Braintree Town Academy, where he also used to play.

A spokesman for Essex Police said: “Police have closed an investigation into a fight at Brentwood in which a man received a serious neck injury.

“The Crown Prosecution Service has accepted that there was no offence after extensive investigations showed that the injury was caused in an accidental fall.

“Police were called to William Hunter Way at 2:30am on Friday, October 28, 2011 when a man in his 20s and from Loughton was injured.

“In December, a 34-year-old man from Sittingbourne in Kent was arrested in connection with the incident. He was released from his bail without charge on Thursday October 25.”