Supermodel Cleans Up

The supermodel Naomi Campbell reported for duty today at the New York sanitation department, where she will be cleaning toilets and mopping floors as part of her community service sentence for throwing a phone at her maid.

Ms Campbell, who arrived for her punishment in black stilettos, was given a high visibility vest and a dust mask to wear.

She has been spared the indignity of being exposed to the media in her new uniform with toilet brush in hand. Unlike the singer Boy George, who had to serve a similar sentence in full view of the cameras, the judge in Ms Campbell's case assigned her to work behind closed doors.

But journalists were given details of the kind of menial tasks Ms Campbell will be required to perform.

"If the toilets are required to be cleaned, she will clean them along with her co-workers," the deputy chief of the sanitation department, Al Durrell, told reporters.

He said that her other jobs would include sweeping offices, locker rooms and a garage floor, cleaning windows and mopping up. "We do have plenty of work for her to do over the next five days," he said.

She will be working with three others on community service, one woman and two men.

Asked about her footwear, Mr Durrell said: "I understand she came in stiletto heels, but she changed into her combat boots, which was fine."

Ms Campbell was sentenced in January but was allowed to delay her community service until after several fashion shows. She was ordered to pay the maid's medical expenses and attend a two-day anger management course.