Naomi Campbell freed on bail after snooze in the cells

Naomi Campbell

BRITAIN - Supermodel Naomi Campbell was released on police bail yesterday after spending 10 hours in a cell following her arrest for the alleged assault of her drugs counsellor.

The 36-year-old fashion icon, who has been accused eight times of violence or verbal abuse in the past eight years, apparently spent much of the time in a London police station sleeping off jet-lag.

She was arrested on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm at her London home after her therapist, who has not been named, reported the alleged incident to police.

Sources said the counsellor walked into a police station looking "quite shaken up" and with red marks on both her cheeks.

Representatives of Campbell, who has attended a course in anger management, insisted there had been a "misunderstanding".

It emerged last night that the model, who was the first black woman to grace the front page of British and French Vogue, had travelled to Britain this week only to renew her visa allowing her to work in America.

David Breitbart, her lawyer in New York, said the latest incident was "taking its toll" on the process of obtaining a new three-year visa and she had been due to meet officials at the US embassy in London yesterday.

He said Campbell had passed a routine drugs test for the visa with "flying colours" and she was expected to return to America this weekend.

The model, who has an estimated fortune of £20 million ($57 million), was released from Belgravia police station early yesterday after several hours of questioning. She returned to the station to be bailed until a date in early December.

A spokesman for Campbell said: "We believe there has been a misunderstanding. Once police have investigated we are sure this will be resolved satisfactorily."

The incident brings to four the number of outstanding legal proceedings against the model. She is due in court in New York next month on an assault charge after allegedly striking an assistant with a mobile phone.

Another former assistant last month filed a lawsuit claiming she was struck around the head with a Blackberry device.

Campbell is also facing a claim from an Italian actress that she was left "covered in blood" after a row in a Rome hotel room.

- INDEPENDENT