West Ham player on sexual assault charge

West Ham defender Manuel da Costa has been charged with sexual assault following an alleged incident in a nightclub, Scotland Yard said today.

Da Costa will appear at Redbridge Magistrates' Court on January 25 charged with sexual assault and common assault on a woman.

The 24-year-old, of Wards Wharf Approach, Newham, east London, was arrested in October and bailed by police pending further inquiries.

Scotland Yard said allegations had been made by a woman in her early 20s at an east London police station in the early hours of October 17. The alleged incident had happened shortly before.