Jury shown CCTV footage of brawl outside club

CCTV footage showed the West Ham defender in a street fight outside Faces nightclub in Ilford, east London, in the early hours of October 2 last year.

The 22-year-old, of Grove Park Road, Mottingham, south east London, is standing trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court and denies assault causing actual bodily harm and affray.

Co-defendant Edward Dawkins, 28, of Henry Adlington Close, Beckton, east London, pleads not guilty to similar charges.

Ferdinand's brother, Rio Ferdinand, the England and Manchester United footballer, was among those in the packed courtroom today.

Prosecutor Alex Agbamu said Ferdinand had offered a number of explanations for events that night, claiming he had acted in self defence and fearing he would be mugged for his £64,000 watch.

Mr Agbamu said Emile Walker was assaulted by a group of men outside the nightclub including Ferdinand and another man identified by Mr Walker as Ferdinand's cousin, who has not been named or charged with any offence.

He told the jury it was their job to decide whether Ferdinand and Dawkins had acted in self-defence using "proportionate and reasonable" force during the fight.

The footage shown to the jury today ended with Ferdinand and Dawkins approaching a black car and about to get in as a large group of people milled around.

The court heard that two police officers called to the scene questioned Ferdinand and Dawkins while they were still sitting inside the car, which had not left the scene.

One officer noticed that Ferdinand had a small cut to his lip and blood on his shirt.

Ferdinand told her "nothing" had happened and he just wanted to go home, saying the blood was from an old injury that was bleeding.

Dawkins, like Ferdinand, denied assaulting anyone, going on to claim that police had stopped him because they were jealous of him driving a £50,000 car.

Dawkins then alleged they had been the victim of a robbery in which Ferdinand's watch had been stolen, but Ferdinand told officers he did not want to report the theft and repeated that he just wanted to go home, the court heard.

Mr Agbamu said it was the prosecution's case that one of Ferdinand's party - identified by Mr Walker as Ferdinand's cousin - had been causing "a lot of trouble" before the fight started.

It was alleged that Ferdinand's cousin struck Mr Walker, with Ferdinand himself later pursuing and attacking Mr Walker.

Ferdinand initially explained to police that he hadn't assaulted anyone and that the blood on his shirt was from an old injury, but changed his story ten days later when he presented himself to police as a potential victim of a mugging, Mr Agbamu said.

The court heard Ferdinand accepted one of his cousins was there but had nothing to do with the brawl.

During his police interview Ferdinand said there had been no trouble inside the club but on leaving a group of men began hanging around him and looking at his watch.

He told police the watch was worth £64,000 and he feared he would be mugged for it.

He claimed one of the men began kicking him and he was punched with enough force to cause his tooth to become loosened.

He said the men were looking for trouble and intimidating and claimed he told police at the time that he was forced to defend himself because he was "worried and frightened".

The jury heard that Mr Dawkins suggested police stopped him because he was driving an expensive car, later claiming he and Ferdinand were victims of a theft, and then refusing to answer police questions at a later police interview.