A former Aston Villa and England footballer sexually assaulted a female police officer as she tried to arrest him for being drunk and disorderly, a court heard yesterday.

Gary Charles, (35), grabbed the woman between the legs after she pulled him out of a taxi in Nottingham following a dispute over his fare, a jury was told.

She said she felt "disgusted" by his behaviour after the footballer, of Stretton, Derbyshire, became aggressive and swore at her before assaulting her in August last year.

The former Derby County, Nottingham Forest and West Ham player, who twice played for England, denies sexual assault and is standing trial at Nottingham Crown Court.

Robert Egbuna, prosecuting, said Charles had taken the taxi from Alfreton to visit his girlfriend in Sneinton, Nottingham, but was asleep on arrival. The cab driver was unable to wake him so he took him to nearby Canal Wharf and left him in the back of the car while he got out to speak to two police officers.

The female police constable then told the court how she went to speak to Charles, whose career was wrecked by injury in 2002, and he proceeded to make suggestive comments to her.

She said: "I saw the male in the rear of the taxi. Originally, there was no response. He appeared lucid. I could smell intoxicants in the vehicle."

She said she asked him to get out of the car and asked whether he had any money to pay his fare.

She said she and her colleague later pulled him out of the cab and he became aggressive and started to swear.

She said: "He was stood directly in front of me and immediately reached out with his left hand and placed it into my pubic area.

"I was purely carrying out my job and was disgusted by what happened to me. Nobody had the right to touch me in a sexual way."

The trial continues.