Golf club dinner ends in brawl

A dinner-dance at a prestigious London golf club descended into a drunken brawl which had to be broken up by police.

Members of Muswell Hill Golf Club dialled 999 when a golfer head-butted the club captain. The meee only ended when the member at the centre of it was taken away in handcuffs, claiming he had been stabbed in the leg.

The aftermath bitterly divided the club, with the arrested man, David Godleman, expelled after a members' meeting this week. The 1,000-member club has been in the grip of the scandal ever since Mr

Godleman, the retired owner of a carpentry business, lost his temper at the annual St Patrick's Day dance.

Irritated by a mix-up which stopped him from playing a round of golf earlier in the day, Mr Godleman, 57, decided to confront the then club captain Eddie Wilshire on the grounds that he had failed to invite the men to "remove their jackets and smoke" at the end of his speech.

Mr Godleman is said to have approached Mr Wilshire's table and launched a foul-mouthed tirade at him in front of his wife and daughter.

The men had to be separated but the row then exploded in the early hours of the morning after Mr Godleman called one of Mr Wilshire's friends a "loudmouth".

In a letter he wrote outlining his version of events, Mr Godleman alleges the captain then charged at him, "roaring". He claims: "I just stood there transfixed. I physically felt my jaw drop.

"He ran straight at me, screaming. I head-butted him, I can't say in selfdefence because I just did it without any thought, and the force at which he'd run at me knocked him out." He claims a number of other club members then joined in the assault, with one attacking him from behind and gouging at his eye.

"I could feel the blood in my eye and the pain," he writes. "By this time I had about eight people around me, four of whom were beating me up."

With several people then involved in the fight, Mr Godleman felt a sharp pain in his leg.

As the scrum worsened, at least one club member called 999 and demanded police attend because someone "was going berserk with a knife". Officers arrived and handcuffed Mr Godleman.

But as he was being arrested and told he was suspected of using a knife, Mr Godleman realised it was him who had been stabbed.

"It dawned on me, my leg, and I said it's me who's been stabbed," he says. "The policeman went inside, and when he came out he said, 'They say you stabbed yourself '. He then said to my wife and daughter, 'You two removed the knife, so I am arresting you for trying to pervert the course of justice'."

His wife and daughter were held for 12 hours for questioning before the allegations were withdrawn and they were released with an apology. Mr Godleman was charged with actual bodily harm and suspended from the club.

Wood Green Crown Court cleared him after a judge ruled there was no case to answer. But club officials told him they were expelling him anyway. Members rejected his appeal and he is threatening to take legal action.