POP star Cheryl Tweedy wept yesterday as she told a court that she punched a nightclub toilet attendant because she was scared of what she might do to her.

The 20-year-old Girls Aloud singer dabbed her eyes with a tissue as she described how Sophie Amogbokpa threw the first punch in the row at the Drink Nightclub, in Guildford, Surrey.

Ms Tweedy, of Heaton, Newcastle, said the 39-year-old hit her in the face as she reached into her bag to find money to pay for some lollipops she had taken from a display in the ladies lavatory.

She told Kingston Crown Court she was stunned by the blow and shouted to fellow band member Nicola Roberts to fetch the club's manager.

The court heard that the row began when Ms Tweedy took five lollipops from the display and tried to reach into her handbag to get the money to pay for them.

''As I took the lollipops it became apparent that there was a problem,'' she said.

''I do not remember what she (Mrs Amogbokpa) was saying, but she was gesturing with her hands and she was ranting and raving."

She denied having taken any perfume or sweets from the display.

She said: "I was looking in the bag, rummaging around for change in the bottom of my bag and I saw the toilet attendant leave her chair and approach us. I felt a blow to the face on my right cheek.

"I was scared of what she was going to do. I was in a strange area, a strange club, I was just unsure of the situation completely. I whacked her back."

When asked if she described anybody as a "jigaboo", Ms Tweedy replied: ''No, I did not use any racist words at any time in the club.''

Asked what she would say to suggestions she had banged her fist into her hand, she said: "That's ridiculous."

The singer denies racially aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily harm and the alternative charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The case continues.