Naomi Campbell, the supermodel, was today granted extra time to strike a deal with a former housekeeper which could see her escape charges for assault which, if proven, carry a seven-year prison sentence.

Dressed in a sleeveless black dress, her face largely hidden behind outsize black sunglasses, Miss Campbell, 35, stood in silence at the back of the room in Manhattan Criminal Court as David Breitbart, her lawyer, requested the delay.

The hearing was over in minutes: Judge Evelyn LaPorte accepted the adjournment until September 27 which will allow both sides to negotiate.

If no agreement can be reached, a grand jury will be convened to determine the specific charge against the London-born model, who denies throwing a bejewelled BlackBerry at her maid Ana Sclavino on March 31.

Miss Sclavino claims that she required four stitches to her head after the alleged assault, which she says was triggered because Miss Campbell could not find a favourite pair of jeans.

Miss Campbell's defence team had earlier informed the media that she would not be attending court for the hearing. Nevertheless, a scrum of more than 50 photographers and TV crews had assembled outside courthouse, where they jostled with crowds of fans cheering: "Go Girl!".

Their tenacity was rewarded when, after the hearing, Miss Campbell turned on her heel and marched out of the building to where she believed her BMW would be waiting. The brevity of the hearing had caught her driver off-guard and - amid a frenzy of flashbulbs - she was forced to pose for photos before ducking back inside to await the car's arrival.

"Ms Campbell has been instructed not to speak to the press," Mr Breitbart yelled, in a vain bid to keep the reporters back.

Miss Campbell escaped a criminal record in Canada in 2000 after pleading guilty to assaulting another assistant, Georgina Galanis, with her cell phone. Under the terms of a plea bargain - which included an undisclosed payout to her victim - she was granted an absolute discharge.

Mr Breitbart told the assembled pack of reporters that Miss Campbell denied new allegations, which surfaced yesterday, from another former employee who accuses her of assault. Gaby Gibson has filed a civil lawsuit in which she also alleges personal injury and employment discrimination.

The court document does not give details but in an interview published in the New York Post in April, Miss Gibson too alleged that the model attacked her after being unable to find a specific pair of jeans.

Miss Campbell, who won a prolonged privacy court battle with the Daily Mirror newspaper over pictures of her emerging from a rehab clinic, once confessed to a television interviewer that she had booked into an anger-management clinic in an attempt to calm her temper.

"Anger is a manifestation of a deeper issue, ... and that, for me, is based on insecurity, self-esteem and loneliness," she said.