Miss England gives up crown over brawl reports

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Beauty pageant winner Miss England gave up her title on Friday after reports she had been involved in a nightclub brawl with another beauty queen.

Rachel Christie, niece of former British Olympic gold medal sprinter Linford Christie, was arrested earlier this week after allegedly getting into a fight with Miss Manchester, Sara Jones, at a club in the northern English city, newspapers reported.

Christie, who had become the first black winner of the title in July, was accused of punching Jones in a row over her boyfriend who appears on the TV show "Gladiators", the papers said.

"Due to the media attention following the allegations against her, Rachel Christie has now decided to withdraw from the Miss World competition and relinquish her Miss England crown," the pageant organisers said in a statement on the Miss England website.

"Rachel will concentrate on clearing her name and focus on training for the 2012 Olympics until this case is resolved."

Christie says she wants to emulate her uncle and win gold at the 2012 Olympics in London in the heptathlon.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Steve Addison)