A former Playboy Model of the Year repeatedly punched a former friend in a nightclub toilet cubicle during a bust-up about her husband, a court heard today.

Louise Glover, 26, also tried to push the head of Maxine Hardcastle - the daughter of 80s musician Paul Hardcastle - down a lavatory during the attack, jurors were told.

It is alleged that Glover, who has made semi-naked appearances in magazines and newspapers, launched her assault following a "perceived slight" involving her husband.

Prosecutor Andrew Judge said Miss Hardcastle was left with bruising on her face, scratches on her arms and legs and hair loss after Glover pulled her up from the floor.

Miss Hardcastle's father, famed for his Vietnam-inspired dance hit 19 which stayed at Number 1 in the UK charts for five weeks in 1985, accompanied her to court on the opening day of the trial.

Mr Judge told Hove Crown Court she and her friend, Nancy Stillwell, had been invited by Glover to an event she was hosting at a bar in Brighton on December 15, 2007.

The party moved on in the early hours of the following morning to the Oceana nightclub in the city where Miss Hardcastle and Miss Stillwell went into the same toilet cubicle together when Glover was heard outside.

"Louise Glover was let in," said Mr Judge. "Either she was or became quite agitated and accused Maxine Hardcastle of talking to her husband and telling her not to do it."

Miss Stillwell then left the cubicle after Glover spilt drink on her dress. "The defendant kept on to the aggrieved about the perceived slight involving her husband," Mr Judge said.

"Eventually Miss Hardcastle said something like, 'This is all messed up'. Louise Glover then punched her round the nose, which sent her backwards against the wall and on to the floor.

"Louise Glover then pulled her up and said, 'You are calling me f***** up?' Miss Hardcastle denied saying that but Louise Glover punched her again on the nose."

Glover is then alleged to have pulled Miss Hardcastle up by her hair, pulling some of it out in the process, before trying to put her head down the lavatory.

As a blood-covered Miss Hardcastle had her head banged against the toilet rim repeatedly, she shouted at Glover to stop, Mr Judge told jurors.

Eventually, Miss Stillwell came back into the toilet and heard Miss Hardcastle screaming before she fetched Glover's husband.

Glover allegedly told him, 'Tell her to get off me first'.

"At that point, Miss Hardcastle was curled up in a ball trying to protect herself and shouting help," Mr Judge said.

Glover was pulled out of the cubicle by her husband and was arrested on December 21.

In interview, she claimed she knocked on the door of the cubicle after hearing the two women talking about her.

She added that she acted in self-defence after Miss Hardcastle became upset "about a family problem".

Glover, of Audley Gardens, Loughton, Essex, denies assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Miss Hardcastle sobbed as she told the court how she pleaded with Glover to stop her attack on her.

She described being left covered in blood on the floor of the cubicle and believed she had broken her nose.

Two years on, she said she her hair has still not fully grown back, and her nose is not straight.

She said: "Louise Glover had a problem with Nancy and myself so she came into the cubicle. She was really angry at Nancy and myself, saying we were looking at her husband, Ben, and told us not to.

"One minute she was really angry and saying she knew what Essex girls were like and, 'I can see what you are doing'. She then told us not to look or talk to him.

"I had spoken to Ben once the whole night and that was amongst the group of people that we were with but not on my own. It was not even for a minute.

"One minute she flipped and the next she was saying, 'I might be being paranoid' and 'I don't have many friends' and 'I consider you two to be my friends'.

"And then straight after that she would be shouting again. It was really strange, one minute she was trying to befriend us and the next she looked like ... it was scary."

After Glover spilt drink down Miss Stillwell's dress while all three were in the cubicle, she left to dry it on the hand-dryer, leaving Miss Hardcastle and Glover alone.

Breaking down, Miss Hardcastle said: "She just flipped again and just got angry. I remember saying to her that she had nothing to worry about and that if she knew me there just wouldn't be a problem at all.

"I said to her that she was obviously drunk and needed to talk about this when she was sober and thinking clearly." Miss Hardcastle then told Glover: "This is all messed up."

She told the jury she clearly remembered seeing Glover lift up her arm and bring it straight down on her nose, causing her to hit her head on the back of the cubicle.

"I knew that my nose was broken because there was blood everywhere," she said. "But she just picked me up by my hair and pulled all my body weight by my hair and did exactly the same thing again.

"She punched me on the nose and the same thing happened - I fell straight on the floor."

Miss Hardcastle went on: "I remember pleading with her and saying to her to stop.

"She pulled me up by the hair again and then she just held the back of my neck and started to smack my head against the rim of the toilet.

"After that she tried to put my head down the toilet but didn't actually put my face in the water. I couldn't breathe through my nose because I had blood coming from it.

"I thought that if she put my face down the toilet I wouldn't be able to breathe. I did my best to keep my face away from the water."

Miss Hardcastle said she believed her head was banged against the toilet rim around 10 times.

"I just remember screaming and telling her not to do it, that's all I could do really."

She later recalled being on the floor and hearing Glover's husband outside the locked cubicle calling her name and at this point the attack stopped, she said.

"He told her to stop and she told him, 'Tell her to get off me first'. I was on the floor still with my hands over my face and head. I was huddled up in a ball in the corner."

Miss Hardcastle described there being "loads of blood from head to toe".

She added: "It was all over my dress and when I was crouching down it was even in my shoes as it was dripping down.

"All my legs were covered with blood. Louise Glover opened the door and walked out of the cubicle. I think (her husband) pulled her out and they ran off."

She went on: "My nose was on the other side of my face. It wasn't in the middle of my face any more. It was completely on one side.

"I had something like the shape of an egg on my forehead and I had cuts all over my arms and cuts on my feet."