Overview
- Sterling, 31, pleaded guilty at Basingstoke Magistrates' Court on Tuesday to dangerous driving, possession of six nitrous oxide canisters for wrongful inhalation, and failing to provide a specimen.
- The charges follow a single-vehicle crash on May 28 when his Lamborghini Urus hit motorway barriers on the M3 southbound near the Minley interchange with no other vehicles involved and no reported injuries.
- Court documents say he drove dangerously across the M25, the M3, the A327 and Minley Road before the collision, and media footage reported by outlets showed the car veering between lanes before the crash.
- Nitrous oxide was reclassified as a Class C drug in November 2023, which makes possession for wrongful inhalation a criminal offence and raises the potential penalties Sterling now faces at sentencing.
- The guilty pleas add a legal and reputational setback for the former England international who has 82 caps and is currently without a club, and the sentence could affect his immediate career prospects and public standing.