Football star turned actor Vinnie Jones was charged yesterday over an alleged air rage incident.

The 38-year-old was travelling in the first class cabin of a Virgin Atlantic plane from Heathrow to Tokyo when the incident is alleged to have taken place.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Vincent Peter Jones, 38, an actor, from Wiggington, Tring, was charged today with the following offences.

"Being drunk on an aircraft, using threatening abusive or insulting words, and common assault on a passenger."

Police said the charge of common assault related to a male passenger. The charge of threatening language related to a crew member.

The actor will appear next Friday at Uxbridge Magistrates Court, in west London, over the alleged incident on June 1 this year.

Reports at the time said Jones was with other passengers at the in-flight bar during the alleged incident.

Jones, who played 384 league games and scored 33 goals in his soccer career, most of them with Wimbledon, made his first acting appearance in the 1998 comedy thriller Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

Since then, his movie credits have included Swordfish, which starred Halle Berry, and another Guy Ritchie movie, Snatch, in which he played Bullet Tooth Tony.

The star's agent Peter Burrell said: "Vinnie won't be saying anything as this is now a matter for the magistrates.

"He has gone straight to see his wife in hospital as she is having a check-up for her heart."

The Bacardi advertisement star's wife, Tanya, who the then footballer married in 1994, received a heart transplant 15 years ago.

The couple have two children, son Aaron and daughter Kayely.

A fly-on-the-wall look at Jones' life was shown on BBC3 this year, but the show failed to be a ratings winner, and the star is now set to launch a fashion label.

The former Wales captain divides his time between his homes in the UK and US.

His latest film, The Big Bounce, with Morgan Freeman, is due to open in the US next year.