Happy Mondays star's assault appeal adjourned

Former Happy Mondays star Bez has had his appeal against a conviction for assaulting his ex-girlfriend adjourned.

Bez was jailed for four weeks after assaulting Monica Ward during a row over money.

He accused the mother of his two-year-old son of stealing his cash and and was himself found guilty of putting his hands round her neck and throttling her during the argument at their flat in Manchester in May.

He was originally handed a community order and asked to pay 450 in costs.

But he told the court that he would not obey the sentence, and continued to protest his innocence.

So the former winner of televisions Celebrity Big Brother was told he was going to jail for one month.

Bez, who found fame for his freaky dancing in the Happy Mondays in the 1980s, served two weeks of the sentence at Strangeways Prison, Manchester, before being released.

Bez, whose real name is Mark Berry, claimed he was acting in self-defence, but he was convicted of the assault last month.

He was also convicted of using unlawful violence to gain entry into their home and was given a restraining order preventing him from contacting his former partner for two years.

The appeal will now be heard at Manchester Crown Court on October 22, after it was decided that the case would need a full day's hearing.