Hugh Grant will not face 'baked bean attack' charge

LONDON, June 2 (Reuters) Actor Hugh Grant will not face charges over claims he attacked a photographer with a tub of baked beans and kicked out at him, the Crown Prosecution Service said today.

The clash between the star of ''Four Weddings and a Funeral'' and photographer Ian Whittaker took place near Grant's London home in April. Whittaker alleged that Grant attacked him after he reportedly tried to take photographs of Grant's former girlfriend Liz Hurley, who lives nearby.

There was too little evidence to charge the 46-year-old actor over the kicking ''because there were clear discrepancies between the accounts of independent witnesses and those of the photographers involved,'' the CPS said in a statement.

''In relation to a second allegation involving a discarded take-away food container, the CPS decided that a prosecution would not be in the public interest in light of the minimal nature of the alleged assault, the lack of premeditation on the part of Mr Grant and the overall circumstances of the incident,'' it said.

REUTERS JT KP1337