Adam Ant held after gun fracas

Former pop star Adam Ant has been arrested after he allegedly pulled out a handgun and waved it around a busy London pub before assaulting a fellow drinker.

Police said the 48-year-old, whose real name is Stuart Goddard, was believed to have been drinking in the Prince of Wales pub in Kentish Town before the fracas began.

He was later spotted getting into a taxi and was followed by police who stopped the cab and arrested him.

The musician was taken to Kentish Town police station and charged with possession of a firearm or imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, criminal damage and actual bodily harm against a man in his forties. A police spokesman said: "The suspect was seen with what appeared to be a handgun. A man fitting the description of Mr Goddard was later seen getting into a vehicle in Hawley Street and was stopped and arrested in Camden Road."

The singer sold 16 million records and once had seven singles in the Top 40 at the same time in 1981. One of his greatest chart successes was the song Stand And Deliver, where he posed as a highwayman brandishing a gun. After his success of the Eighties, he moved to Los Angeles. In 1994, however, he was diagnosed with clinical depression.

Goddard has been bailed to appear at Highbury Magistrates on Friday.