Dane Bowers Gets Community Service For Brawl

Ex-Big Brother star Dane Bowers has been ordered to undertake community service after admitting common assault during a drunken night out.

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 on June 2.

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."

When arrested Bowers told police that he was "eight out of 10 drunk" with 10 being a state of total drunkenness.

Bowers had been due to go on trial accused of two counts of assault on separate victims and one of harassment - all allegedly racially aggravated.

Bowers admitted one count of common assault and one of threatening behaviour, both without any racial element. His lawyer said his grandfather is Jamaican.

Judge Stephen Holt ordered that he compete 120 hours of unpaid work for the community. He must also pay £1,000 in legal costs.

Prosecutor John Farmer said the other charges would not be proceeded with.

Judge Holt told him: "You got thoroughly drunk, putting it politely, and got in all sorts of trouble. It seems highly unlikely that you, given your background, would have made racist remarks."

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

The singer, who is now a DJ, rose to fame with boy band Another Level in the 1990s. He appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2010.

A spokesman for Bowers said after the hearing: "Dane Bowers has been found not guilty of any racial elements of the allegation made against him."