Hales tells court he did not see fight near nightclub
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE and England cricketer Alex Hales told police he did not witness the alleged fight between his team-mate Ben Stokes and two other men, a court heard yesterday.
The Nottinghamshire batsman told a uniformed officer, who had just arrested all-rounder Stokes for assault, that he had turned up after the fracas had finished.
But jurors at Bristol Crown Court have seen CCTV footage showing Mr Hales, who was never arrested or charged in connection with the incident, with Stokes and kicking a man on the ground.
Stokes, Ryan Ali and Ryan Hale are jointly accused of affray following the alleged incident in the Clifton Triangle area of Bristol in the early hours of September 25 last year.
Ryan Hale was acquitted of the same charge by the jury of six men and six women on the direction of the judge yesterday.
Durham cricketer Stokes was arrested by Avon and Somerset PC Stacey Alway on suspicion of assault after he had been identified by an off-duty police community support officer as being the person who knocked out Ali.
PC Alway was wearing a body camera and jurors were played the footage, hearing the officer walking over to Stokes and telling him: “A guy over there was covered in blood and I’ve been told you punched him.”
Stokes replied: “Because he was abusing my two friends for being gay.”
He can be heard asking PC Alway: “Is there going to be any sort of cameras around here? Have those two other guys gone? What about two other lads - gay guys?”
Mr Hales told PC Alway he did not witness the alleged fight.
“I came after you guys turned up,” he said. When PC Alway told him to leave Stokes, who had been placed in a police vehicle, Mr Hales replied: “I feel bad. He’s my best friend. I saw him after everything happened.”
Mr Hales said to Stokes: “I don’t want to go. Are you sure? I turned up after the whole thing.”
In the police car, Stokes appears to mouth at Mr Hales something like “Come with me” or “You’re with me”.
Stokes can also be heard asking PC Alway to loosen the handcuff on his right hand because it was too tight and he had undergone three operations on it.
Stokes told the trial that he felt “under threat” at all times when he knocked two men unconscious during a fight outside the Mbargo nightclub.
He denied claims he mocked two gay men, Kai Barry and William O’connor, outside the Mbargo nightclub and flicked a cigarette butt at them.
Instead, he insisted he had stepped in to protect Mr Barry and Mr O’connor after hearing Mr Hale and Ali - who had a glass bottle - shout homophobic abuse at them.
The trial continues.