Naomi Campbell denies photographer assault

Naomi Campbell has denied reports that she hospitalised a photographer during an altercation off the coast of Sicily.

Gaetano Di Giovanni had told Italian newspaper La Repubblica that the supermodel scratched and bruised his face in an incident in the Eolioan Islands.

Di Giovanni said: "First she hit with her bag, screaming at me and then she tried to slap me. I managed to avoid her - but her nails still got my eye.

"For a few seconds I could not see a thing. I could hear that her bodyguards and her boyfriend were trying to drag her away."

Campbell's representative told the Daily Mail: "Media reports circulating that Naomi Campbell attacked a photographer in Lipari, Sicily are completely untrue.

"The photographer was seen following Naomi Campbell on a small boat, taking photographs, the day after the alleged incident."

Campbell was sentenced to 200 hours of community service in June 2008 after pleading guilty to assaulting police officers at Heathrow Airport following a row over missing luggage.

She had served a five day community service sentence a year earlier after admitting reckless assault when she threw a mobile phone which hit her maid Ana Scolavino.