Pop Star Sentenced After Night Out in Norwich

3 December 2012, 18:13 | Updated: 3 December 2012, 18:16

Singer Dane Bowers has been given a community sentence after admitting assault on a night out in Norwich.

Singer and former Big Brother star Dane Bowers must perform community service after admitting common assault during a drunken night out in Norwich.

Norwich Crown Court heard how Bowers led a group of men in a violent confrontation against another group, including two black men, outside a nightclub in the city. During the attack, the 33-year-old former partner of glamour model Katie Price, grabbed a man by the neck and "shook him around", the court heard.

Witnesses said they heard Bowers shouting racist language but when challenged he told them:"Don't accuse me of being racist, my father's black.'' although other witnesses said somebody else may have shouted the abuse. When arrested Bowers told police that he was "eight out of 10 drunk'' with 10 being a state of total drunkenness.

He was due to stand trial accused of two counts of assault on separate victims and one of harassment - all allegedly racially aggravated - but admitted one count of common assault and one of threatening behaviour, both without any racial element.

Judge Stephen Holt ordered that he compete 120 hours of unpaid work for the community. He must also pay £1,000 in legal costs, and prosecutor John Farmer said the other charges would not be proceeded with. Mr Farmer said the incident happened after 5am on June 2 in Prince of Wales Road, Norwich's nightclub district. Kevin Molloy, mitigating, said that Bowers was "many degrees away from somebody who could be deemed racist''. He added that his grandfather is Jamaican.

Bowers, of Ambercroft Way, Coulsdon, Surrey, had two previous convictions for drink driving and was cautioned for common assault on New Year's Eve, 2005.