James Argent has ditched the lawyer who kept him out of jail after he assaulted his former Miss Sweden girlfriend as he prepares for the start of the rehabilitation course he must do as part of his conviction.
Court officials confirmed yesterday the process of ensuring the sentence imposed on the former TOWIE star is carried out began on Monday. Well-placed sources also said he had appointed a new legal team as the details of the resocialization programme are ironed out.
Civil servants employed by Spain’s Interior Ministry are expected to contact Argent’s lawyer in the next few days to start discussions on where and when the 37-year-old will undertake his rehabilitation.
Argent agreed to do the course on May 5 when he struck a plea bargain deal with public prosecutors and accepted a six-month suspended prison sentence for the assault earlier the same day on ex Nicoline Artursson at a rented Costa del Sol home.
He was also given a restraining order preventing him from approaching the 32-year-old model or contacting her for the next two years. Argent’s new lawyer is known to be based in Malaga but he has not yet been named.
A Spanish court official said yesterday: “The executory phase of the sentence has now been initiated. It was initiated on May 26.”
A well-placed legal source added: “The individual who was convicted has appointed a new barrister and solicitor.
”They haven’t presented any special requests relating to the course their client has to do but that doesn’t mean they can’t or won’t end up doing so. Normally it’s a local social insertion centre, which is part of the Spanish penitentiary system and aims to help individuals transition back into society after a period of incarceration, which contacts the convicted person to establish the way they’re going to do the course and address issues like the timetable."
A source close to the former reality TV star-turned singer, who was told to pay just £250 compensation to Nicoline after pushing her down stairs during a row, claimed today he was now on his third Spanish lawyer following the assault.The insider said: “Since the court case he’s changed briefs twice.”
Shamed Argent was filmed dancing with fans last week during his first gigs in Spain since the May 5 assault including one at pal Elliott Wright’s trendy eatery Olivia’s La Cala near the house in La Cala de Mijas between Fuengirola and Marbella where he attacked Nicoline. She suffered several injuries to her neck, arms, hand and leg which took seven days to heal.
James was hauled to Fuengirola’s Court of Violence Against Women later the same day and admitted a crime of ‘mistreatment’ as part of his plea bargain deal. Public prosecutors were intending to push for a nine-month prison sentence for the ex-TOWIE star before he agreed to admit to his crime.
Experts have said they expect Argent to be obliged to attend ten once-a-week workshops where educators will try to make him see what he did was wrong and help him ensure he doesn’t reoffend in the future as part of the resocialization course requirement linked to the sentence. The possibility he can do it in the UK has been downplayed in Spain because of Brexit.
James confirmed his relationship with Nicoline last September. The pair told OK! magazine in their first interview together last November they were living together after Nicoline moved into her then-boyfriend’s home in Essex and were already looking ahead to starting a family together.
