14 DAY TRIAL // Aging Rolling Stones rocker Ronnie Wood was arrested the other night on suspicion of assaulting his 21-year-old girlfriend, former cocktail waitress Ekaterina Ivanova, whom he has been dating for about a year. Police have arrested Wood at his place in Surrey, took him to the station and he was then released on bail. Charges are now pending, Rolling Stone magazine has learned.
Miss Ivanova, who is Wood’s junior by 41 years, is also the reason why the rocker got what is known as a “quickie” divorce from his wife Jo after being married for 24 years. Jo is believed to have walked away with a £6.5 million settlement from the failed marriage. Police have confirmed that Miss Ivanova was also the victim in the incident that led to Wood’s arrest just hours ago.
“I can confirm that there was an incident last night and that Ronnie Wood was arrested. He has since been released on police bail. We have no further statement to make at this time,” a rep for Wood says for RS. “We can confirm that a 62-year-old man from Esher was arrested last night on suspicion of assault in connection with a domestic incident in Claygate High Street,” a Surrey Police spokesman also states.
While, officially, further details on the case are not available, neighbors of the couple who called the police tell the Daily Mail that the fight took place in the street and ended with Wood smashing Ivanova against a wall and trying to strangle her, after dragging her down the street by the collar. The fight seems to have been ignited by Ivanova’s suggestion that they should break up, and was fueled by ingestion of large quantities of alcohol.
Initially, the 21-year-old girlfriend did not wish to press charges, although she was in a very bad shape because of the attack, which the neighbors describe as “vicious.” “It was then I saw this man dragging a woman down the road. She had been on the floor by a shop-front to begin with and he was towering over her screaming abuse into her face. He had really viciously turned on her. I heard her say: ‘Ouch... Stop it.’ He then pinned her up against a nearby wall and again he appeared to put his hands around her throat,” Mr. Legge, 30, an eyewitness, says for the aforementioned publication.