Moment professional footballer smashes up antique shop in £7,000 drunken rampage

By SOPHIA STANFORD, NEWS REPORTER Published: 15:44, 8 May 2026 | Updated: 15:58, 8 May 2026 An ex-professional footballer has been spared jail after he broke into an antique shop and smashed it up in a drunken rage. Ben Marshall, 35, caused more than £7,000 of damage to the shop - called Junk & Disorderly - after a booze-fuelled night out. A court heard the former winger, who played for Leicester and Wolves, had 'hit rock bottom' after losing his fortune through a string of bad financial decisions. The ex-England U-21 star - who had come on for Wilfried Zaha in a European Championship qualifier where England won 2-0 against Azerbaijan - had been drinking in Newport, Shropshire, on February 4 this year before he launched the 'heinous attack'. Lucy Allen, prosecuting, said the former-Stoke City player left a pub and walked towards Junk & Disorderly, on Upper Bar in the town. She said he kicked a glass panel on the front door until it smashed, and then 'crawled' inside. She said: 'He then proceeded to deliberately damage various items, as well as ripping the CCTV off the wall.' Items damaged included the door, CCTV cameras, an antique cash register and several items on the shelves. Ben Marshall, 35, caused more than £7,000 of damage to the shop - called Junk & Disorderly - after a booze-fuelled night out Marshall kicked a glass panel on the front door until it smashed and then 'crawled' inside where he proceeded to damage the door, CCTV cameras, an antique cash register and several items on the shelves Ms Allen said that with the loss of earnings for the two days the shop was closed, the value of the damage was £7,450. Marshall, of Stafford, admitted burglary with intent to cause damage, and damaging property when he appeared at Telford Magistrates' Court on Tuesday. He was sentenced to a community order for 12 months, including up to 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days. Marshall was also ordered to undergo six months alcohol treatment, do 120 hours of unpaid work and told to pay £1,500 compensation. Sentencing, chairman of the bench Steven Jonas said: 'This was a particularly heinous attack on a premises where you went completely ballistic and caused huge amounts of damage. 'I accept you are remorseful about it and accept it was caused in drink - although that is an aggravating factor, not a mitigating one.' Marshall's footballing career started in 2009 when he was signed by Stoke City before playing for Leicester City and Blackburn Rovers. He was bought for £1.2m by Wolves in 2016 and went onto make 25 appearances in the Championship before being loaned to Millwall. Ben Marshall of Millwall during Championship match between Millwall against Fulham at The Den stadium, London England on 20 April 2018 Marshall, of Stafford, admitted burglary with intent to cause damage, and damaging property when he appeared at Telford Magistrates' Court on Tuesday Marshall currently plays for Eccleshall FC - who compete in the North West Counties League - in the tenth tier of English football. The court heard Marshall had issues with alcohol and claimed he heard screaming from the property at the time of the incident. John Skinner, defending, said: 'I think it is fair to say that in February of this year Mr Marshall was going through a difficult time. 'He is a man who came from a position of some wealth but through bad advice effectively lost everything financially.' Mr Skinner said Marshall had resorted to alcohol as a coping strategy having 'hit rock bottom'. He added: 'After drinking at a local pub he initially thought he heard screams coming from the property. 'He broke in but has little explanation for his actions afterwards.' No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.