John Terry 

BBC

Chelsea captain John Terry has said he was "very angry and upset" at being accused of racism by fellow footballer Anton Ferdinand, reports the BBC.

Terry is at Westminster Magistrates' Court over allegations he racially abused QPR's Anton Ferdinand.

On Tuesday he gave evidence after the prosecution concluded its case.

Terry said that, as the pair traded insults, he thought he heard Ferdinand say he had been sworn at in racial terms.

The former England captain's defence is that he was merely repeating this.

Terry said of the subsequent racism accusation: "I was very angry and I was upset."

Earlier, the magistrate presiding over the trial rejected a call for the case to be thrown out.

After the conclusion of the prosecution argument, Terry's legal team asked for the case to be dismissed.

But chief magistrate Howard Riddle decided there was a case to answer and the hearing will continue.

The case relates to a comment allegedly made to Queens Park Rangers defender Ferdinand when the teams played last October.

George Carter-Stephenson QC had argued Ferdinand was an unreliable witness and lip reading experts, who had viewed television footage, agreed it was impossible to clarify what was said.

He said the case was "so weak and tenuous it does not warrant it going any further".

In reply, prosecutor Duncan Penny said it was "unlikely" that someone's first reaction to an accusation of racist abuse would be to repeat the same words, which is Terry's defence.

Penny said: "Mr Terry's defence is 'my immediate reaction was to use exactly the same words, not surprise, nothing of that nature, just to repeat the words back.

"You could form the view that is very unlikely."

The 31-year-old former England captain denies a racially-aggravated public order offence.

Earlier, the court was played an interview between FA investigator Jennifer Kennedy and Terry carried out a week after the game.

In it, Terry said: "I have been called a lot of things in my football career on and off the pitch, but being called a racist I am not prepared to take.

"That's why I came out and made my statement immediately.

"I am not having Anton thinking that about me or anyone else. That's not my character at all."

Terry told the investigator that Ferdinand was shouting abuse at him over allegedly having an affair with Chelsea team-mate Wayne Bridge's girlfriend.

He said of the racism accusation: "I was hurt by it, taken aback and really surprised.

"I have never been accused of that before, inside or outside football."

Terry claimed that when players sign for Chelsea he takes care of them and welcomes them into his home regardless of their colour.