Ashley Cole with stunning blonde before his arrest?

Ashley Cole protested his innocence after claims he was seen chatting to a stunning blonde before his arrest for being drunk and disorderly, Mirror reports.

Ashley, 28, was already in the dog-house with wife Cheryl, 25, after she discovered he had broken his solemn promise not to go drinking with teammates while she was away.

The Girls Aloud singer blew her top at him on Thursday in a tearful phone call from Tanzania, where she is climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with eight other celebs for Comic Relief.

Yesterday she said of her gruelling trek: “It’s been a really tough day… every day has been really tough.”