‘Harrods croissant fight’ trial: Former Spurs exec David Buchler cleared

The former vice-chair of Tottenham Hotspur was cleared of punching another customer in a row in a Harrods queue after he claimed he was told to ‘f*** off’ and called a ‘dirty Jew.’

Speaking outside court Mr Buchler, 64, said: "I am immensely relieved. I'd like to thank the jury for finding the truth and for voting accordingly."

He added that he was going to have ‘a big glass of wine’ to celebrate.

Mr Buchler was accused of breaking James Birrane's nose after getting into a row with his wife, Rosaria, 54 when she accused him of queue-jumping.

But the former Spurs boss claimed that his elbow hit Mr Birrane's face when he raised his arm in self-defence because he feared he was going to be attacked after being told to “f*** off, you dirty Jew”.

The Birranes, sitting in the public gallery remained silent as the jury foreman cleared MrBuchler.

Earlier Prosecutor Tim Naik said: “The defendant came to the front of the counter and pushed to the front.

“This leads to a confrontation between him and those near him, in particular with Mrs Birrane.

“He told her to 'f*** off. Mr Birrane said he heard that, saw how Mr Buchler was behaving, told him not to talk to his wife like that and moved forward to protect her.

“Mr Birrane said that he was then struck by the defendant to the nose, but he cannot say whether is was a closed fist.

“There’s no dispute that there’s an injury - he’s bleeding from the nose.”

But the grandfather-of-seven, who ran Spurs in the early 90s and early 2000s, said there had been a misunderstanding at the queue, which led to Mrs Birrane becoming “really, really irritated”.

He told Isleworth Crown Court: “It was just amazing that somebody could become quite so irritated quite so quickly.

“I’m not a man who swears. I'm not an angry chap. I can be firm if I need to be firm, but I'm always courteous.”

Describing the incident on New Year's Eve last year Mr Buchler said: “She told me to 'Bugger off to the end of the line.' I explained I’d been in the other queue, had bought a challah.

“She was constantly shouting and swearing at me. So I told her to shut up.”

Buchler told the jury that Mr Birrane then came behind him, adding: “There was eye-contact, but it wasn’t specific.

“I don’t think he did much, actually, until he told me to 'f*** off'. The 'f*** off' that I got, which was in a very guttural tone, came from behind me.

“That’s what, for me, was frightening, from Mr Birrane.

“The whole thing has taken me unawares. She has been extremely aggressive, extremely aggressive, and at the same time there’s also this ‘dirty Jew’.

“Seeing him in my peripheral vision him coming towards me, the ‘dirty Jew’ was secondary, to be honest, but it was part of the red lights that I got.

“There’s no question it was said. It was said almost at the same time, which Is why I think it’s more likely to be Mrs Birrane, as he said, ‘f*** off’.

“I felt I was about to be hit, so I turned around, and as I did, as he came towards me, my elbow contacted his nose. My hands never contacted him.”

Buchler told the court he was not aggressive “in the slightest” and had “never hit anybody in [his] life”.

He added: “I connected with him and he then staggered back.

“He then came forward again, grabbing at my face. I was wearing my glasses.

“He was clawing at my face and trying to get hold my face, but got my glasses and threw them down.

“They ended up on the floor by the bread counter. It was done aggressively.

“He was coming towards me and then people around tried to pull him off me and make sure I was not going to go back to him.

“We were both held, parted. I remember looking for my glasses and wanting to try and just see what was going on."

Jonathan Goldberg, QC, representing Mr Buchler, accused Mrs Birrane of uploading racist articles and posts on the internet.

He produced an article shared on her Facebook page about Islamic repression of women where Mrs Birrane had written: “Some cultures are better than others. All cultures are better than Islam.”

He also produced an article about a ‘Jewish conspiracy to take over the world’ and said: “Just to show you’re an equal-opportunity racist.”

Mrs Birrane responded by shouting: “Jewish conspiracy to take over the world? Oh, for f***’s sake. Do shut up.”

Giving a character reference Tottenham MP David Lammy told the court: “In all the years I have known David Buchler, I have never seen him raise his voice or get angry.”

Barrington Black, the former Supreme Court judge of Gibraltar, said: “I would describe him as extremely gentlemanly, extremely kind.”

The jury at Isleworth Crown Court took just 90 minutes to return a not guilty verdict.