I’m no wife beater, says Collins

FORMER world boxing champion Steve Collins yesterday denied reports that he is a wife beater.

He accused a tabloid reporter of printing “lies and trash” about him, saying he never beat up former wife Gemma Collins. He also said the reporter was having a relationship with her.

“I am not a wife beater... I have never been charged of wife beating,” he said yesterday.

The reporter named by Collins said yesterday he had “absolutely nothing to say” about the matter.

Last December, Collins appeared before Southend Magistrates’ Court in England over an alleged assault on girlfriend Joanna Davies.

She had alleged Collins slammed a fridge door against her head during a row at their home in Essex, but she later retracted her statement.

Yesterday, the former boxer confirmed that a public relations company had issued the statement on his behalf in response to a number of articles published about him.

“They advised me they’re not happy with what’s going on, that it’s affecting my work,” Collins said. “A week or two ago more lies and untruths were written, but people can now see why he’s doing it and work it out for themselves,” he said.

Collins denies he had a violent relationship with his estranged wife, saying she “has never publicly accused me of wife beating”.

He says that his former wife and the tabloid reporter “have been seen together kissing and embracing each other in public places since the break up of our marriage”.

“Therefore his motives are to simply to cash in on my fame and try to tarnish my image as an international sports ambassador for Ireland,” he said.

The former WBO middleweight champion said he bore no malice to his former wife, who is engaged to be married, but wanted the “unfounded allegations” to stop for the sake of his children.

“As these allegations are causing me considerable embarrassment and great stress to my children and family, I may have no option but to seek legal representation,” he said.

Solicitors representing the reporter’s newspaper confirmed they had received legal correspondence on behalf of Collins in February 2003. In this letter, solicitors for Collins described a number of articles published about him as “scurrilous, libellous and malicious”, but did not seek any apology at the time.

“I’ve heard nothing since from any legal people on behalf of Steve Collins,” the newspaper’s solicitor said. However, he emphasised it “absolutely” stood by anything that it had published about Steve Collins in the past.