Andy Carroll reveals he was sexually assaulted at home during second Newcastle spell in 2021

Former England striker Andy Carroll has revealed in his autobiography that he was the victim of a sexual assault at his home during his second spell at Newcastle United in 2021, with the perpetrator subsequently convicted and jailed.

The disclosure appears in Owning It, Carroll’s new book published this week. The 37-year-old describes waking in his bed on the evening after a match to find a male ‘celebrity mate’ of his then-partner committing the assault. Carroll threw the man out of his house and later knocked him unconscious when he attempted to return.

The attacker initially denied the allegations, but was charged with sexual offences by police after Carroll reported the incident. Carroll testified in court, a process he describes in the book as “humiliating and embarrassing and absolutely horrendous.” At the conclusion of the trial, the man was found guilty, sentenced to three years in prison, placed on the National Sex Offender Register, and banned from entering the village where Carroll lived.

It was not the first time Carroll had been the victim of a serious crime. In 2017, a convicted burglar was jailed for six years for his role in an attempted drive-by robbery targeting Carroll’s luxury watch in Essex, an incident that culminated in two motorbikes chasing Carroll’s car back to West Ham United’s training ground.

Carroll, who now plays for and co-owns non-league Dagenham & Redbridge, will face a separate trial in January over unrelated allegations that he breached a non-molestation order, to which he pleaded not guilty earlier this year.

The former striker began his career at Newcastle, scoring 31 goals in 80 league appearances across the Premier League and Championship, before a high-profile move to Liverpool in January 2011. After a loan spell and subsequent permanent stint at West Ham, he returned to St James’ Park in 2019. He later played for Reading, West Bromwich Albion, Amiens, and Bordeaux before joining Dagenham & Redbridge. Carroll earned nine England caps between 2010 and 2012.