Nicky Butt assault charge dropped after he was accused of beating his estranged wife

AN assault charge against former Manchester United footballer Nicky Butt has been dropped.

The 45-year-old was accused of beating estranged wife Shelley Barlow but Crown Prosecution Service declared there wasn't enough evidence.

It is understood Barlow did not want to go into the witness box to give evidence against her husband.

Butt had pleaded not guilty to common assault and causing £800 of criminal damage to Barlow's mobile phone.

On Tuesday, a CPS spokesman said: "We have a duty to keep all cases under review and following the receipt of new material have decided to discontinue this prosecution.

"Mr Butt has agreed to accept a caution for criminal damage."

Police had been called to a property in Hale, Greater Manchester on April 16 and said they found a woman at the address had suffered a small cut to her hand which did not require hospital treatment.

At a previous hearing, Lisa Roberts QC, representing Butt - who is head of coaching at the Manchester United youth academy, said it would be her client's case that he did not know how the complainant came about any injury.

A preliminary hearing was due to take place at Manchester Magistrates' Court on Wednesday in which Butt's legal team was expected to argue the case should be thrown out as an abuse of process - partly questioning the proportionality of continuing with the prosecution.
A spokesman for his legal team said: "We are pleased that this matter has now been resolved and that our understanding of events has been accepted."

Butt, from Bowdon, Altrincham, won a string of Premier League titles in his playing career at Old Trafford and also played in the club's dramatic last-gasp 2-1 victory over Bayern Munich in the 1999 Uefa Champions League final.