O. J. Simpson was ordered back to jail last night after the former American football star allegedly violated the terms of his bail by trying to contact a co-defendant in his Las Vegas armed robbery case.

Mr Simpson, who achieved notoriety when he was acquitted of the 1994 killing his former wife and her friend, was being escorted from his home near Miami back to Las Vegas to be locked up until a hearing on Wednesday.

Prosecutors allege that Mr Simpson left a message on November 16 asking his bail bondsman, Miguel Pereira, to contact Clarence “C.J.” Stewart to dissuade him from doing a deal to testify against the sports star.

“I’m tired of this,” the transcript quotes Mr Simpson as saying. “Fed up with changing what they told me. All right?” The alleged call came two days after a justice of the peace had ruled that Mr Simpson, along with Mr Stewart and another man, should stand trial on 12 charges, including kidnapping and robbery, that could put him behind bars for life.

Once one of America’s biggest sports stars, Mr Simpson was acquitted of killing his former wife, Nicole, and her friend Ron Goldman in a sensational trial in 1995 that caused outrage across the nation.

Mr Simpson’s former wife, who had filed for divorce in 1992 citing his “abusive behaviour”, was almost decapitated in the attack. Despite his acquittal, Mr Simpson was later found liable for the two deaths and ordered to pay civil damages to the victims’ families totalling $33.5 million (£17 million).

In 2006 he dictated a book purporting to be a fictional first-person account of the murders, titled If I Did It. Mr Simpson was arrested again in September last year after an alleged armed robbery of two collectors planning to sell $100,000 worth of sports memorabilia, including an All-American ball and other items once owned by the star.

Mr Simpson and five other men allegedly rushed into the hotel room at the Palace Station casino and seized the items at gunpoint from two dealers. The incident was taped by Tom Riccio, an auction-house owner, who set up the meeting between the dealers and Mr Simpson. Mr Simpson told police that he wanted “to reclaim his own property”.

Mr Simpson’s golfing friend Walter Alexander, Charles Cashmore, and Michael McClinton have all struck plea deals to testify against him in return for lesser charges. Mr McClinton’s lawyer said that his client would tell the court that Mr Simpson had asked him to bring guns to the hotel.

Mr Simpson has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to stand trial on April 7. He was freed on $125,000 bail on condition that he had no contact with witnesses in the case – not even by “carrier pigeon”. He was rearrested by the You Ring We Spring bail bondsmen firm when the local prosecutor in Las Vegas went to court to complain that he had broken the terms of his bail.

Followed by TV cameras as he was escorted through Miami airport, Mr Simpson, wearing a sun visor and a striped polo shirt, chewed on gum and spoke on his mobile phone.

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