A few things got said and the next thing I heard was 'give her a dig, Danny' and I saw his fist coming towards me and he hit me

Joeline Joel

Mr Cadamarteri was in a group of three men who allegedly followed Miss Joel and her friend Christine Walmsley when they left a bar at 0200 BST.

She claimed the men were shouting obscenities and were asking them to perform sex acts.

Miss Joel said: "There were a few men behind us who we had noticed in the bar because they had been quite loud.

"We walked up Hardman Street and they were shouting obscenities at us.

Self-defence

"We didn't want to turn around, we were walking straight up. We just wanted to get away from them.

"They seemed to get much worse. One of them got right behind me, intimidatingly close. When we turned round they were nearly on top of us.

"A few things got said and the next thing I heard was 'give her a dig, Danny' and I saw his fist coming towards me and he hit me."

Defence barrister Ian Harris suggested Miss Joel had punched one of Mr Cadamarteri's friends before turning on the footballer, who had accidentally struck her in self-defence.

You lost your temper, you lost your self-restraint. It was a loss of temper together with too much alcohol

Ian Harris, defence barrister

Mr Harris said: "Mr Cadamarteri moved to stop you by pushing his hand towards you. It was the base of the heel of his right hand that caught you under the left eye."

He said that the incident had been caused by a combination of anger and excess alcohol on her part.

"You lost your temper, you lost your self-restraint. It was a loss of temper together with too much alcohol," he said.

The jury also heard evidence from witness Paul Bell who told the court he saw Miss Joel punch one of Mr Cadamarteri's friends in the face.

He said this caused Mr Cadamarteri and the third friend to laugh.

This had angered Miss Joel, causing her to lunge at the Everton striker, who struck her with his left fist, he said.

Mr Cadamarteri, of Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, denies assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The trial continues.