Reality winner Hewitt arrested

A former lover of Diana, Princess of Wales has been arrested on suspicion of assault, it has emerged today.

James Hewitt, 45, was released on police bail today following questioning about an alleged assault on a photographer.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: "A 45-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of assaulting a photographer in SW7 at approximately midnight.

"He was taken to a central London police station

and the man has now been bailed pending further inquiries to a date next month."

The Evening Standard newspaper in London reported that the former Army major was involved in a fight outside his home in Cranley Gardens, South Kensington.

The photographer allegedly suffered a minor head injury.

'Love rat'

Hewitt was branded a "love rat" after he revealed his version of his affair with Diana in Anna Pasternak's book Princess in Love in 1994.

But his public image has started to improve recently, helped along by his appearance in last year's The Games on Channel 4 and winning the Channel Five Back To Reality television show last week.

The ex-Life Guards officer's win on the Channel Five show netted him £93,500 to donate to The Passage, a charity that helps London's homeless.

On the show, he told psychic Uri Geller that he had suffered suicidal feelings after his relationship with Princess Diana was made public.

Helped Diana overcome fear of horses

He has said he first met the Princess at a high society party in London's Mayfair in 1986.

He apparently helped her overcome her fear of horses and taught her to ride while he was stationed at Combermere Barracks, near Windsor.

Hewitt was posted to Germany in 1989 and was later sent to fight in the Gulf War.

Diana wrote more than 60 letters to him between 1989 and 1991.

The Princess did not publicly confess to her affair with Hewitt until 1995, when she accused her former lover of betrayal during a BBC Panorama interview with Martin Bashir.

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