UK NEWS

SUPERMODEL NAOMI FACES JAIL OVER POLICE ASSAULTS

Naomi Campbell

Friday May 30,2008

By John Twomey

Naomi Campbell could face jail after she was yesterday charged with assaulting two policewomen during an alleged “luggage rage” row at Heathrow.

The supermodel was accused of six offences when she answered her bail at the airport’s police station.

She is due to go on trial next month charged with three counts of assaulting a constable, two of using threatening words or behaviour and one of disorderly conduct.

The maximum sentence for assaulting police is six months behind bars and/or a fine of £5,000.

She respects that decision and hopes this matter is dealt with expeditiously

Naomi Campbell's lawyer Simon Nicholls

The charges arise from an incident during Heathrow’s Terminal 5 opening chaos on April 3 as she sat on a British Airways flight waiting for take-off to Los Angeles.

Campbell, 37, allegedly became abusive when told one of her bags had gone missing. Police were called and she was said to have assaulted the officers and spat at them. She was later taken off the plane in handcuffs and spent eight hours in custody before being released on police bail.

Wearing a pin-striped suit and dark glasses, the multi-millionairess left in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes after spending 30 minutes with the police yesterday.

Her lawyer Simon Nicholls said she was “bitterly disappointed” that the Crown Prosecution Service had authorised the Metropolitan Police to charge her. He said: “Prosecutors have decided she needs to be prosecuted in the magistrates’ court. She respects that decision and hopes this matter is dealt with expeditiously.”

She will appear before magistrates at Uxbridge, west London, on June 20.

Two weeks after the incident, the model was seen at Heathrow chatting happily to two WPCs – apparently the officers she allegedly assaulted. An onlooker said: “She went straight up to them and started chatting.”