Jude Law has denied deliberately striking a female photographer outside a London nightspot in the early hours of this morning.

Pictures appear to show the actor lashing out at the woman in a rage as she tries to snap him leaving the Automat bar and restaurant at 12.30am this morning.

However, Jude's lawyer Graham Shear insists that the Alfie star accidently hit the photographer after being “blinded by camera flashes.”

Shear tells Entertainmentwise exclusively: “This is all nonsense. Last night's incident was an accident. Jude was blinded by the camera flashes when he left the restaurant, raised his hand to shield himself and inadvertently struck somebody standing very close.

“He apologised and left. Pictures of this sort can often be misleading. “

Jude has had a somewhat fraught relationship with the paparazzi in the past, once referring to them as "stalkers and freaks."

In October 2007 he was cleared of assaulting a photographer outside his home in north-west London.