Rhys Ifans accused of assault

Actor Rhys Ifans has been accused of assaulting a guest in a hotel suite at a five-star hotel in London in the early hours of Sunday after a pre-BAFTA Awards party.

According to theatre producer Adam Spreadbury-Maher, who had been partying with a group of friends including Dominic Cooper at the Groucho club in London's Soho, claims to have seen the 44-year-old star being verbally abusive to his friend before hitting him "quite a few times" in the face.

"I did not know who Rhys was but my friends told me he was a film star and host of the party. They invited us all in and were really lovely and then Rhys went mental and started on my friend," dailymail.co.uk quoted Spreadbury-Maher as saying.

"He was slapping him round the face and shoving him. It was pretty terrible. It was completely random. Everyone was having a lovely time. We were invited in and then he just went silly about 20 minutes after we arrived.

"He made a beeline for him and started shoving him saying, 'What the f''k are you doing here? You're a joker. Who the f''k are you?'

"He slapped him quite a few times. I think he was trying to make himself feel like a big man. He went nuts. It was as though he was in a bubble and he didn't realise people were watching," Spreadbury-Maher added.

u00a0