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Cricketer Ben Stokes ‘Mocked Gay Men Before Nightclub Fight’

Web Desk ( 7 August 2018): England cricketer Ben Stokes mocked two gay men and flicked a cigarette butt at one of them before brawling with two other men.

The Durham all-rounder, who will miss the second Test against India at Lord’s, denies affray.

Bristol Crown Court heard Ryan Ali, 28, and Ryan Hale, 27, were knocked unconscious by Mr Stokes in Bristol on 25 September 2017.

They also deny affray and are on trial alongside Mr Stokes.

The fight outside a nightclub was “a sustained episode of significant violence” in which Mr Stokes lost control.

Nicholas Corsellis, prosecuting, said Mr Stokes, 27, had “knocked Mr Hale unconscious and then – after time to pause for thought, to calm – he did exactly the same to Mr Ali”.

The prosecutor described Mr Stokes’s actions as “well beyond acting in self-defence or defence of another”.

The cricketer has maintained that “at all times he acted in self-defence of himself or others” and believed the force he used was “reasonable and entirely justified”.

The court heard Mr Ali had sustained “significant injuries”, including a broken eye socket.

Bouncer Andrew Cunningham explained to the pair the club was closed and they would not be allowed in.

He claimed the cricketer had mimicked their voices and mannerisms in what he described as “a derogatory way”.

Mr Stokes, of Castle Eden, Durham, was arrested in the early hours along with Mr Ali, of Bristol, and Mr Hale, of Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol.

The fight took place several hours after England had played a one-day international against West Indies at the city’s County Ground.

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