O. J. Simpson walked free from jail into a media frenzy reminiscent of his 1995 trial for the killing of his former wife and her friend.

News helicopters tracked his car as the former American football star was released on $125,000 (£63,000) bail on 11 charges relating to the alleged armed robbery of his own sports memorabilia in a Las Vegas hotel room.

The overhead TV shots recalled the live coverage of the slow-speed chase when Mr Simpson sought to flee in his white Bronco 4x4 after his indictment in the deaths of his former wife, Nicole Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Mr Simpson lumbered out of the Las Vegas prison in a sky-blue suit brought to him by a bail bondsman whose company boasts: “You Ring, We Spring.” He headed straight for the city’s Palms Hotel & Casino, where he had been staying until his arrest on Sunday, to sign legal papers.

Yale Galanter, his lawyer, said that Mr Simpson was going back to his home in Florida. “I think he’s extremely relieved,” Mr Galanter said. “This has been a harrowing experience for him. He has been in custody for three days.”

During the ten-minute remand hearing, Mr Simpson appeared to show surprise as the judge read an added kidnapping charge that could put him behind bars for the rest of his life.

The former footballer, acquitted of killing Ms Brown and Mr Goldman in one of America’s most sensational trials, was scrupulously polite as he answered the judge’s questions.

Justice of the Peace Joe Bonaventure Jr told Mr Simpson to surrender his passport and not to have any contact with the witnesses, codefendants or alleged victims. “If you see them walking down the street, you are to cross the street,” the judge said.

Mr Simpson was arrested on Sunday after an alleged armed robbery of two collectors carrying sports memorabilia valued at nearly $100,000. The incident was taped by Tom Riccio, an auction-house owner, who set up the meeting with the collectors Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong.

New details of the alleged hold-up were revealed yesterday in a ten-page police report. Mr Fromong told an officer: “Five black males entered the room and two were armed with black semiautomatic handguns. One of the five was Orenthal Simpson.”

The police report said: “Once all the suspects were in the room, one of the suspects pushed Fromong back and he stumbled over a chair in the room. The suspects with the guns were pointing the guns at Beardsley and Fromong. Simpson told Fromong that the property was his and asked Fromong how he could do this to him. Simpson told the unidentified suspect to gather the memorabilia from the bed. The suspects took the pillowcases off the pillows and started to grab items.”

Mr Riccio told police that he thought that Mr Simpson was going to try to reclaim property from the memorabilia dealers. “Riccio told me he knew what was going to happen but he did not know they were going to use guns,” the officer wrote. “I asked Riccio if he knew they were going to take the property and he said, ‘Yes’. He explained that he was told that the property belonged to Simpson and that Simpson just wanted to confront Fromong and get his property back.”

Mr Simpson, described as “very cooperative”, told police that he wanted “to reclaim his own property”.

“My All-American ball – I would never give that away,” he said. He denied that it was a robbery. “As pissed-off as I was, it wasn’t that type of thing,” he told the officer.

Mr Galanter said that Mr Simpson, 60, would plead not guilty at his next court appearance, next month. “There isn’t a place on the planet that Mr Simpson could go where somebody wouldn’t recognise him. Despite his past, he is not a flight risk and not a danger to the community,” he said.

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