Jan Ullrich: Former Tour de France champion fined over attack on sex worker in luxury hotel

Former cyclist and Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich has been fined in relation to the attack of an African sex worker in a luxury hotel, media reports say.

German public prosecutors released a statement on Wednesday which said a male defendant had been fined €7,200 (£6,547) on the suspicion of bodily harm and attempted duress.

While the cyclist was not named in the released court judgement, it has been widely reported the defendant was Jan Ullrich.

Previous charges of attempted manslaughter and grievous bodily harm were dropped in the course of the investigation by the defendant, the court judgement added.

In a summary of the decision it described how the 45-year-old defendant had been accused of attacking and injuring a 31-year-old woman in a room in a luxury Frankfurt hotel in the early hours of August 10 last year.

He was accused of insulting the woman and had asked her to give back the €600 (£544) he had given her in advance for her services, the court statement said.

It added the defendant was under the influence of alcohol and drugs at the time the incident took place.

The court prosecutors also described how the defendant grabbed the woman by the neck with one hand and pushed her against a wall.

After that, he gagged her with both hands and slammed one fist against her arm, the statement said.

The woman suffered a haematoma and pain-related restrictions in the movement of her shoulder muscles and neck.

The public prosecutors’ office said that the woman was not interested in any further prosecution after the defendant apologised for his behaviour and paid her compensation.

Additional reporting by Reuters