Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Enders actor Katie accused over assault
FORMER EastEnders star Katie Jarvis has been charged with assault and racially aggravated harassment over her alleged part in a drunken street brawl last summer.
The 29-year-old was allegedly seen on video last July rowing with a group of women outside a bar in Southend-on-Sea, Essex.
She will face charges of assault by beating, common assault, using threatening or abusive words or behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress, and racially or religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress.
A witness at the time said a woman was escorted away from the fracas while yelling, “I’m a famous actress.”
We have been in negotations with Sky Sports about it
ON HIS TV PLANS
A BARE-knuckle boxer is setting up a “multi-million, Big Brother-style” fighting competition on television.
James Quinn McDonagh says he wants bare-knuckle fighting to become “the next UFC” as he unveils plans about his three-year hopes to take over the fighting world.
Tens of thousands of euros are being offered to inexperienced fighters in the hope they could become household names in the planned reality TV show.
James claims he is in talks to receive big money backing from a US investor and has been in negotiation with Sky Sports about a lucrative deal.
The fighter, from Coolock in North Dublin, was the subject of a documentary which unravelled the secretive world of Irish Traveller bare-knuckle boxing.
He said: “I was followed around for 12 years behind the scenes, before, during and after these big bouts. I was happy with the documentary, some people weren’t. As a result of its success, I set up a bare-knuckle fighting company.”
His hopes were to create bare-knuckle tournaments across the UK.
James added: “I won my battle in the courts to have the fights go ahead and in April 2014, the first bare-knuckle boxing tournament took place with police and local council on side.
“I can proudly say I was the first person to ever put on a bare-knuckle boxing match.”
This started his quest on world domination for what he describes as a “talented sport that’s just like boxing”.
This inspired the boxer to bring the Big Brother bare-knuckle fights to a larger audience and the competition will have £45,000 in prize money to the winners.
Participants can also pocket £20,000 and fighters will earn around £1,000 per week while training in the house.
James said: “There’s a multi-million pound investment talks from the US and the hope is that money will also snowball in from subsequent advertising and sponsorship.” The show has a working title of Quinn’s Deadliest Fights and there are hopes it will be “the next version of UFC within the next three years”.
He added: “We hope to have three seasons a year. It will be streamed live on BKWars.TV but we’ve been in negotiations with Sky Sports about it also.
“The first season will be UK and Ireland fighters versus the US. Basically, 12 fighters from each group go into a Big Brother-style house where they will be subject to in-house training and fights against each other.
James said: “There will be 12 fighters in each house with a captain, so the UK-based team is a mixture of Irish, English, Scottish and Welsh fighters.
“They will be followed for six weeks in the camp by cameras. The team captain is exempt from fighting and at the end of the camp the Britain and Irish team faces off against the US-based team.
“But the best part is, it’s all a secret. So nobody knows who they are fighting from the opposition camp until they step into the ring.”
Despite his success in the UK with getting bare-knuckle boxing on the sports radar, it is still something that is ignored here in Ireland.
He said: “The only country where you are not allowed to put on a bare-knuckle fight, is in the Republic of Ireland.
“It’s got a bad reputation because it’s associated with Traveller feuds but this gives it a chance for that to change.”