Curfew means Danny Simpson misses Leicester City title celebrations

The 29-year-old was sentenced to 300 hours of unpaid community service after being convicted of assaulting his ex-girlfriend in May last year.

However, his lawyers complained that journalists had found out where he was carrying out his community service, making it impossible for him to complete his sentence.

Simpson appealed to the Manchester magistrates' court for the sentence to be reduced to a fine, and while district judge Alexandra Simmonds revoked the sentence, she imposed a curfew on the footballer instead, saying a fine would be "no punishment" given his financial position.

Simpson must wear an electronic tag and stay indoors at his home in Salford between 2100 GMT and 0500 GMT for the next 21 days, meaning he could miss part of Leicester's title-winning celebrations and their trip to Thailand which starts on Tuesday.

"I'm not satisfied a curfew would be unworkable despite the fact that the defendant will obviously be inconvenienced," Simmonds said at the hearing.

"The purpose of the order is to restrict the liberty of Mr Simpson as punishment for the offence for which he was convicted... You will have to serve your sentence."

Simpson has until Thursday to appeal against the verdict.