Liverpool Star Denies Assault on Woman

A Premiership footballer grabbed a young woman by the throat and subjected her friend to a tirade of abuse after a nightclub argument, a court heard yesterday.

The Wales and Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy left Sophie Palmer, 19, bleeding from a breast enlargement surgery scar which reopened in the clash, magistrates in Cardiff were told. A friend and former minder of the player later grabbed Miss Palmer in a bear hug when she tried to get help from door staff at the No 10 nightclub in Cardiff city centre, said Mike Hammett, prosecuting. The melee left the teenager and her friend, Holly Smith, 20, shocked and bruised.

Bellamy, 27, of Rumney, Cardiff, denies two charges of common assault on the two women and his friend, Franklin Lynch, 52, of Barry, south Wales, denies one charge of assaulting Miss Palmer.

Mr Hammett told the court that all four were out in Cardiff in February when Bellamy and Miss Palmer collided in a corridor and "words were exchanged". Bellamy allegedly grabbed Miss Smith by the wrist, swore at her and then seized Miss Palmer by the throat. Interviewed by police, Bellamy said the incident was triggered when one of the women caught his eye in the club and then asked him what he was looking at. She slapped him, he said in a counter-complaint to the police, after he replied: "If I was looking at anyone it would be those two behind you because they are far prettier." The hearing continues.