An East Sussex woman who is the estranged wife of former daredevil motorcycle stuntman Eddie Kidd is due to appear in court this morning charged with assaulting him.

Samantha Kidd, 44, is accused of assaulting paralysed Mr Kidd, 53, six times within the space of four months, from July to October last year.

Last month Sussex Police charged Kidd, of High Street, Seaford, who reportedly left the marital home following the breakdown of their five-year marriage.

Police said the charges followed a "prompt and thorough" investigation into allegations of domestic abuse made on December 11 last year.

Kidd was freed on police bail with instructions not to contact her estranged wheelchair-bound husband and not to visit the area where he lives.

Mr Kidd - who was paralysed and brain-damaged when a stunt went wrong in August 1996 - received an OBE last year for services to charitable giving.

He carried the Olympic torch through Lewes on July 17 last year after being selected for walking the 2011 London Marathon in 50 days and raising more than £100,000.

Unemployed Kidd will make her first appearance at Brighton Magistrates' Court.

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