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Cheryl struggles up Kilimanjaro as Ashley spends a night in cells
05.03.09
Ashley Cole was arrested last night after a drunken confrontation with police.
The Chelsea and England star was detained following a foul-mouthed tirade at officers after a night out in Kensington.
Eyewitnesses said the 28-year-old repeatedly swore at police as he emerged from the Collection club in Brompton Road, South Kensington. When he refused to tone down his language, he was arrested and taken to a police station to sober up.
Cole, married to Girls Aloud singer and X Factor judge Cheryl Cole, spent three hours in a custody suite before being issued with an £80 fixed penalty notice for being drunk and disorderly and allowed to go home.
Hours earlier, he was pictured with former GMTV presenter Fiona Phillips while attending a charity event nearby. Cole was arrested after a meal with Chelsea captain John Terry and several other team mates.
“We shut at 12 but he stayed afterwards with a few of them,” said Burim Maraj, general manager of The Collection. A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: “A 28-year-old man was arrested at 0215 this morning on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly. He was taken to a central London police station and released at 05.37.”
The arrest will no doubt cause embarrassment for his 25-year-old wife, who is thousands of miles away climbing Mount Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief. Cheryl is on the fourth day of the climb and has completed three-quarters of the 19,340ft mountain.
She and Gary Barlow, Denise Van Outen and bandmate Kimberley Walsh have had altitude sickness. She said it was “unquestionably the hardest thing I have ever done” and was shaken after seeing another climber collapse. She said: “You feel really strange at this altitude anyway, emotional and strange.”
A spokesman for the singer refused to comment and said she was “uncontactable” in Tanzania. A spokeswoman for Comic Relief said they had not heard from the group today. They are scheduled to reach the top of the mountain on Saturday.
The arrest may put further strain on their relationship. Last year a hairdresser claimed Cole had cheated on a drunken night out.
A Chelsea spokesman said: “We are aware that Ashley was detained last night but will wait to establish the full facts before deciding whether we will take any further action.”
