The Timesonline website is reporting that a jury was told yesterday that Jamaican footballer Marlon King, a Premier League player, punched a female student in the face and broke her nose after groping her bottom at a nightclub.

King, 29, a Wigan Athletic striker, was said to have become angry after the woman rejected his advances, and told her: "Don't you know who I am? I'm a millionaire. You're not even in my league."

When she pushed him away, he hit her, leaving her with a broken nose, split lip and blood pouring down her dress, jurors were told.

'completely gratuitous'

Roger Daniells-Smith, for the prosecution, told Southwark Crown Court that the attack was "completely gratuitous".

The 20-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been celebrating a friend's birthday at the Soho Revue Bar in the West End of London last December when the argument started.

Shortly before 3 a.m., Mr King, a married father of three, walked over to the party of about 20 women and began touching the woman's bottom, it was claimed.

"That touching was sexual. It was neither welcomed nor consensual," Daniells-Smith said. "He couldn't have thought that she would welcome that ... He was a total stranger to her. This was deliberate and sexual."

Giving evidence, the woman said: "I felt someone grab my left buttock. I turned around because I was quite disgusted and shocked. There was a man standing towards the bar, smirking at me in a suggestive way. I said quite firmly, "Don't touch me, it's not nice."

millionaire

Adding that King had "definitely not" accidentally brushed up against her, she said that he then began touching two other women in her group before one of them said "hands off". It was then, Mr Daniells-Smith said, that he asked: "Don't you know who I am? I'm a millionaire." The woman replied: "I don't care who you are. Take your millionaire self away from our table."

The prosecution claims King grabbed the woman's wrist before punching her in the face causing a broken nose, black eye and split lip.

King, from Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, denies sexual assault and actual bodily harm. Daniells-Smith said he claimed that the woman was mistaken about the identity of the attacker.

The trial continues.

- Taken from timesonline.com