Former Eastenders actor Mohammed George is suing The Sun newspaper for branding him a woman beater three years ago.

George played Gus on the BBC soap for five years and took issue with the fact that the paper accused him of “acting like a wild animal” during a fight with his girlfriend.

Mr George’s lawyer said the reports had “damaged his prospects as an actor”. The Sun is contesting his claim.

Speaking on behalf of the actor, Ronald Thwaites QC said Mr George felt that being called a “woman beater” was “one step away from being described as a paedophile”.

Mr Thwaites said: “In a nutshell the allegation against him is that he flew into a rage in the street in the early hours of the morning of 3 December, 2006, and beat up his then girlfriend and mother of his daughter, acting like a wild animal and leaving her sprawling in the street when he ran away.

“He says this is completely untrue, a false picture.”