Ex Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge is suing his ex-landlord for £100,000 after finding his 11-year-old son had created a Netflix account named with a racist slur, according to reports.
The case relates to a period in October 2018, when Sturridge, then still a Reds player, was renting a Cheshire mansion from Alan and Katie O’Neill.
According to reports in The Times, the England footballer accessed the family's Netflix account and found one had been set up and named with the highly offensive N-word.
Sturridge, who has since moved to the Turkish club Trabzonspor, was paying £18,500 a month for the house in Mere, near Knutsford, Cheshire, where he lived with his girlfriend Jamilla Ferreira.
According to reports: "Within weeks of moving in he, his partner Jamilla Ferreira and her parents accessed the O’Neill family’s Apple TV account, which had not been disconnected.
"They discovered a number of Netflix accounts belonging to the four children, who had moved to California with their parents.
"One of those accounts belonged to the youngest of the O’Neill children, who was aged 11. The profile showed a caricature of a black person and a word that Mr Sturridge and his guests found deeply offensive."
Documents filed to Manchester County Court suggest the O'Neill's apologised "profusely" and claimed to have no knowledge of their son's account.
They said that their son was a fan of black music, in particular rap, and had made a “silly mistake” for which he had been reprimanded.
Sturridge moved out of the property a short time later.
No date has yet been set for a court hearing.
The Liverpool ECHO has contacted representatives of Daniel Sturridge and Mr and Mrs O'Neill for a comment.
