Amy Winehouse twirled in front of a judge and showed him her pink ballet shoes in an attempt to prove that she was a mere 5ft 2½in tall and could not have punched a fan.

In one of her most bizarre public performances to date, the Grammy-award winning singer insisted that she had not attacked Sherene Flash moments after being asked to pose for a photograph at a charity ball.

Instead, Miss Winehouse, 25, claimed that Miss Flash, who is 5ft 7in tall and was wearing high-heeled boots, was drunk and being rude as she towered above her. “Miss Flash came over and put her arm around me. She lent down. She’s taller than me. I had flat shoes on,” she said.

Asked what shoes she was wearing, Miss Winehouse jumped up from the witness box at Westminster Magistrates’ Court and twirled in front of District Judge Timothy Workman to show her footwear.

“I’m probably 5ft 2in to 3in tall,” she said before rearranging her 8in-high black beehive and adding: “But my hair does make a difference.”

She continued: “I had shoes on like this. In fact, these are the very shoes I had on that night. Look, they don’t even have a sole. They don’t have a heel.”

After the judge reassured her that he was fully aware of what flat shoes were, she returned to the witness box, straightened her grey pinstripe mini-skirt suit, sat down and smiled.

The prosecution claims that she acted with “deliberate and unjustifiable violence” towards Miss Flash, a dancer who, like Miss Winehouse, had performed at the Prince’s Trust charity ball in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, in Central London, last September.

Other dancers have told the court that Miss Winehouse appeared to be either drunk or high on drugs during the altercation in a dressing room.

Miss Flash said that after her performance she had been “tipsy” on champagne and had used the time to “network” or get photographs of celebrities. She said that shortly after midnight she had gone to Miss Winehouse’s dressing room and politely asked her to pose for a photograph with her friend, Kiaran Connolly, who, by his own admission, was “hammered” on after-show drinks.

Miss Flash said: “She punched me forcefully in my right eye. She used a fist, her right one. I started crying with shock. I couldn’t open my eye for a while.”

Miss Winehouse was ushered away by her bodyguards. A recording of Miss Flash’s 999 call was played to the court. Asked by the operator who had assaulted her, she replied: “Amy Winehouse, of all f***ing people.” She said that she was left with a headache and a scratch to her eye.

Miss Winehouse said that she felt scared of Miss Flash, who had rudely ignored her offer to pose for a photograph once she had seen a friend out of the venue.

“She kneeled down to try to pose next to me. Her friend came round in front. I said, ‘Do I get a choice? Hello?’ I wanted her away from me. It was like, ‘Leave me. I’m scared of you.’

“I said I would be back in two minutes. It’s just then she leant down all over me and put her face next to mine. She made her friend walk round to take a photograph. It’s just rude. My bodyguard was keeping an eye on what was going on. He stepped in. It was like, ‘Let that girl be, she’s drunk’.”

Miss Winehouse denied hitting the dancer with a clenched fist, insisting that any injury was accidental. She added that she was worried that the woman was trying to sell her story to a tabloid newspaper. She added: “People are just rude or just mad these days. Or people can’t handle drink.”

Miss Winehouse denies common assault. The trial continues.

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