An English footballer had reportedly been arrested after he broke the cheekbone of a man, who had tried to intervene in a row between the player's girlfriend and 'lover' in a restaurant.
However, Nottingham Forest striker Darius Henderson has denied the charge of 'grievous bodily harm' and insisted that he only acted in 'self-defence'.
According to the Daily Star, a court heard that Henderson had punched diner John Bell so hard that the impact shattered his cheek and damaged his eye socket.
The report said that Henderson allegedly became incensed after Bell tried to calm an argument between the player's girlfriend Lucy Caplan and alleged mistress Hazel Kent, who had gone to Henderson's table during a New Year's Eve meal and told Caplan that she had met the sportsman for sex.
The report further said that Kent backed up her claims by describing Henderson's underwear and the inside of his home, following which Bell, who was dining with his friends, intervened in the row that followed.
However, the prosecuting lawyer said that there was no reason to believe that Kent's allegations of an affair were 'anything other than pure fiction', adding that Bell posed no threat to Henderson for which the attack cannot be justified even if the intervention was unwelcome.
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Following the attack, which was captured on the restaurant's CCTV, Bell reportedly had a brain scan and had to undergo surgery to reconstruct his face, including the insertion of two metal plates in his cheek.
Defending Henderson, his lawyer claimed that Bell had wound up Henderson by telling him that his former club Millwall was 's***', with the report adding that Henderson and Caplan have broke up.