Police appeal for witnesses to Stokes incident

LONDON: Police investigating England vice-captain Ben Stokes over allegations of causing actual bodily harm appealed for ‘two specific witnesses’ to contact them regarding the incident which took place early on Monday morning.

Stokes — who was suspended by England on Thursday, a day after video footage was published by the Sun newspaper of the incident — was released without charge on Monday but remains under investigation.

The two witnesses police have called on to come forward were allegedly present prior to the fracas that took place outside a Bristol nightclub.

“Our enquiries into the disorder in the Queens Road/Clifton Triangle area of Bristol in the early hours of Monday are continuing,” read the police statement.

“We believe there are two specific witnesses, both men, with information about what happened in the moments prior to the disorder who are yet to come forward and we’d appeal for them to do so as soon as possible.”

READ MORE: Stokes suspended from England duty over ‘brawl’ video

The all-rounder’s participation in the upcoming Ashes series in Australia is now under threat, although he was named in England’s squad on Wednesday.

Opening batsman Alex Hales, who was with 26-year-old Stokes on Sunday after playing alongside him during a win over West Indies in the third one-day international in Bristol, has also been suspended from England duty.

Stokes, no stranger to off-field disciplinary problems during his career, saw his troubles pile up further on Friday with a video — published on the Daily Express website — in which he allegedly belittles the teenage handicapped son of former model Katie Price.

Price, 39, wrote “Shame him” on her official Twitter account, directly in response to a newspaper report about the video.