Ex-boxing champion cleared of assaulting ex-girlfriend and stealing her phone

A former boxing champion has been cleared of assaulting his ex-girlfriend and stealing her iPhone in a row outside his mother’s home.

Wadi Camacho, 37, was accused of cutting Louise Mitchell’s cheek and threatening to throw her car keys down the drain during the dispute on June 25 2020.

But the ex-cruiserweight, who previously held the Commonwealth title, was acquitted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm against Ms Mitchell and the theft of her iPhone 6S following an Old Bailey trial.

He was also found not guilty of two counts of breaching a non-molestation order by “threatening, intimidating, harassing or verbally abusing” and using violence against his ex-partner.

Camacho, a former sparring partner of Anthony Joshua, accepted there had been a disagreement and that he had taken his ex-partner’s keys because he was worried about her driving.

But he denied attacking her or taking her phone, and on Thursday jurors accepted his account.

The court heard the former couple usually communicated through Camacho’s mother or another third party but she had been shielding due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

On the day of the argument the boxer met with Ms Mitchell himself and a confrontation ensued, jurors were told.

She had pulled up outside his mother’s address in Oakes Mews, Poplar, east London, with a legitimate reason to attend the home as part of a family arrangement, the court heard.

Ms Mitchell claimed Camacho had left her with a cut that took months to heal after snatching her phone when she called 999 after they had a disagreement.

But Iain Purdie, defending, said there was no CCTV available of the incident, and that if there were it would show Camacho had not been physically violent or stolen the phone.

The barrister pointed out that after arrest, the defendant had also waived his right to silence and voluntarily answered questions from officers.

In a police interview, the former boxer said the situation would “affect (his) job” and he was “tired of all this craziness”.

He told officers his ex-partner had probably been trying to “crank (him) up to say something not great” and said he was sick of “all these pathetic lies”.

A transcript of the interview read to the court showed Camacho had said: “This obviously does affect my job, what I do. I’m tired of it, all this craziness.

“She’s the one who came to my mum’s house all angry.”

He added: “Whenever she wants to switch the button it’s like everything goes all pear-shaped.”

Camacho exhaled in the dock as jurors returned majority verdicts of not guilty on all four counts after deliberating for five hours and 10 minutes.