Tweedy praises band members after conviction

Girls Aloud star Cheryl Tweedy today paid tribute to her fellow band members as she spoke about her conviction for assaulting a nightclub attendant.

The 20-year-old singer, from Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne, said she did not think she would have coped as well as she did without the support of her fellow band members.

“Without the support of the girls I do not think that I would have got through it as well as I did, to be honest,” she told GMTV.

Her remarks were made after she was found guilty at Kingston Crown Court last month of assault, occasioning actual bodily harm, on nightclub attendant Sophie Amogbokpa.

She was cleared of another charge of racially aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily harm on Ms Amogbokpa.

Tweedy was sentenced to 120 hours community service and ordered to pay £500 (€733) compensation to 39-year-old Ms Amogbokpa, and £3,000 prosecution costs.

Fellow band member Nadine Coyle said the charges and subsequent trial had been “really hard” for Tweedy.

She said: “She has coped with it really well under the circumstances because we have been working so hard.

“But she got emotional a lot of the time but we all just tried to be there for her and help her through just as best as we could.”