Leeds United footballer Lee Bowyer was accused today of telling a "pack of lies" about injuries he sustained the night an Asian student was kicked and beaten unconscious.
The 24-year-old midfielder, who faces serious assault charges, told the jury at Hull Crown Court that injuries to his face and hands were caused when he slipped over after being hit.
Bowyer said his statement to police was "jumbled" because "I am not very good with words". He told police that fellow defendant Jonathan Woodgate had seen him fall after they both left a nightclub and had told him later it had looked "nasty".
Bowyer told the court in his third day of evidence he had not asked Woodgate who had "whacked" him, leaving him dazed on the night of January 11th/12th, 2000.
Prosecutor Nicholas Campbell told Bowyer: "That's a pack of lies, Mr Bowyer" and accused him of telling lies to police and during his court evidence.
Bowyer explained differences in the statements he gave to police and his court evidence by saying that listening to the evidence had brought things back to him and helped jog his memory.
The prosecution alleges that after a fracas outside the night club, Sarfraz Najeib and his friends were chased into a street called Mill Hill in central Leeds where Najeib, then 19, was knocked senseless.