NFL star broke London clubber’s cheekbone

An American football star who beat a man unconscious following a row in a London bar is facing jail at Southwark crown court today.

Jermaine Allen, 27, a former squad member of NFL teams the Chicago Bears and the New Orleans Saints, broke Elvis Monteith's cheekbone in three places. Mr Monteith told police he was left looking like he had been in the boxing ring.

Allen, a Great Britain international, admitted unlawful wounding. In a two-day sentencing hearing due to finish today, Allen, of Stockwell, claimed Mr Monteith initiated the violence at The Wall Bar in Old Broad Street in October last year.

He said the other man squared up to him when they bumped into each other by the bar, before grabbing him round the neck.

But Mr Monteith told the court he had not been the aggressor. "I can remember it seemed as though I was getting offered up, [meaning] confronted and asked to step outside," he said. "I didn't do anything."