Ex-Wales international rugby star Ian Gough was today found guilty at Croydon Magistrates' Court of assaulting his ex-girlfriend and former Miss Wales Sophia Cahill just weeks after she got engaged to pop star Dane Bowers.

Chairman of the bench Terry Carpenter told Croydon Magistrates Court the magistrates had found the evidence of Miss Cahill was "convincing" and backed up by Mr Bowers.

Beauty queen Miss Cahill, from Pontypool, fought back tears as she told how Newport Gwent Dragon Gough, 37, who grew up in Cwmbran, shoved her into the passenger door of his white VW camper van.

She said she was "shocked and upset" after the attack, which happened when Gough arrived more than an hour late for a meeting at her home in Croydon on the evening January 5 this year.

Miss Cahill chose to give evidence behind a blue curtain at Croydon Magistrates Court so she did not have to come face-to-face with her ex-boyfriend, who denied assaulting her.

She said: "It was raining so I went out to the van. I expected Ian to get out but he was on his phone as if he was texting.

"I was standing there for a few seconds. There were no obvious signs he was going to get out. It looked as if he was mocking me because I was standing out in the rain. I opened the passenger door and Ian just stormed around the front of the van."

She added: "He had the front of my shoulder and he just flung me back."

She said Gough told her "get away" as he allegedly attacked her.

The model said she was "shocked and upset" and fled in tears back to her house where her fiance pop star Dane Bowers was waiting for her.

She called police about ten minutes later and Mr Bowers sent an angry text to Gough, the court heard.

The court was told that former Another Level star Mr Bowers wrote: "Did you just lay your ******* hands on Sophie?"

He earlier told how he had seen the incident from the window of their home.

He said: "He grabbed Sophie and moved her away from the car. It was forceful enough that I wondered ... I couldn't hear what was said.

"But in my eyes he had no reason or permission to grab her and move her out of the way."

Just a few days before the attack Miss Cahill had been in a car accident and suffered whiplash which required hospital treatment.

She told magistrates that Gough's attack made her injuries worse.

She said: "I had existing injuries. I was suffering from whiplash. I was in a car accident and it made it worse."

Mark Haslam, defending, insisted Gough, who now lives in Swansea, did not attack Miss Cahill but told her not to open the passenger door because he feared it could trigger her back injury.

He also accused the model of being "abusive and swearing at" Gough.

But Miss Cahill denied this saying: "Absolutely not. There is absolutely no way I can imagine Ian offering any kind of help to me."

Gough denied assault by beating at the house in south Croydon.

Gough insisted he never touched Miss Cahill and instead claimed she unleashed a foul-mouthed tirade against him and physically hit his car.

He told magistrates: "Sophie was still at the window and punched the window and was shouting and swearing profusely at me and punching the wing mirror on the side of the van which caved in.

"At that point, without putting my seatbelt on, I started the car and drove off quickly.

"The last thing I could see as I was driving off was her... finger stuck up at me still swearing."

The rugby star said he felt "vulnerable" being at his ex-girlfriend's home. He later parked up and phoned police.

Asked if he had attacked Miss Cahill or told her to get away, he said: "At no stage did I make any physical contact with her."

Gough made 64 appearances for the Wales rugby union team.

Mr Carpenter adjourned sentencing until August 24.