ed a belt during the course of a disorderly melee.

“Mr Puncheon is seen to take off his belt and began lashing out at members of the public. He was described as irate and is shouting: ‘Arrest me, arrest me.’”

Earlier the court heard a man in a white T-shirt upset the Eagles midfielder as the footballer was dancing with his wife.

Puncheon said: “His behaviour was to be personally abusive about my football, he was aggressive.

“The same guy in the white T-shirt came out of a side alley and there was a blonde girl and another male.

“I was putting my wife in the vehicle when the blonde girl launched a punch, a direct hit, the blonde lady had tried to hit my missus.

“The moment that someone leaned over the car and hit my wife and then hit my friend, things just spiralled out of control.”

Sallie Bennett-Jenkins, defending, said her client thought he was “under attack”.

But Judge Michael Snow said: “He is completely contradicted by very clear CCTV video. It is quite clear to me that he has completely lost control of his behaviour and he was striking indiscriminately at that group.”

Puncheon will serve 210 hours of community service.

In a twist at the end of the hearing, Bromley FC footballer and Puncheon’s friend Ben Chorley, of Dartford, Kent, was charged with contempt of court and fined £1,000 after taking a photo of Puncheon while he was in the court.