Christian Bale, the actor who plays Batman, was arrested yesterday by detectives investigating claims that he assaulted his mother and sister the day before the London premiere of The Dark Knight.

Bale, 34, was questioned about claims that he attacked the women in his suite at the Dorchester Hotel on Sunday. His mother, Jenny, 61, and sister Sharon, 40, lodged a formal complaint at a Hampshire police station on Monday. The allegation was referred to the Metropolitan Police.

One source said that police had delayed questioning the actor to avoid disrupting the opening of the film: “It would have been wrong to wreck the premiere over a complaint which we do not yet know is founded in truth.”

The actor voluntarily attended a Central London police station yesterday morning to be questioned about the alleged assault at the five-star hotel in Park Lane.

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He left yesterday afternoon after four hours of questioning. A Scotland Yard spokesman said that he had been released on bail until a date in September, pending more inquiries.

The Dark Knight, a crime saga about the vigilante character Batman and his wealthy alter ego, Bruce Wayne, took a record $158.4 million (£75 million) in the US at the weekend.

The assault allegation is the latest trouble to be associated with the film. In January the Australian actor Heath Ledger, who plays The Joker, died from a drug overdose aged 28. A special effects technician was killed last September in a stunt car accident.

Bale was born in Haverfordwest in South Wales, to David Bale, a former RAF pilot and businessman, and his second wife, Jenny James, a circus performer. The actor has two older sisters, Sharon and Louise, and a half-sister, Erin, from his father’s first marriage. His father died in 2003.

After the family left Wales when Bale was 2, his childhood was spent on the move, with periods in Portugal and America and a four-year spell in Bournemouth.

In an interview in 2004, Bale’s mother recalled how he was bullied while at school in Bournemouth after appearing aged 13 in the Steven Spielberg epic Empire of the Sun.

“The bullying was quite bad and it made him very sad. It really put him off the film and stardom thing,” Mrs Bale said. “At the time he did not want to do any more acting. But he got over it and he has done really well - we’re so pleased for him.”

Bale recalled his British schooldays, saying: “Girls were all over me. Boys just wanted to fight me.” He has been married for eight years to Sibi Blazic, a model and former personal assistant to the actress Winona Ryder, and they have a three-year-old daughter, Emmaline. They met when he starred with Ryder in Little Women. He appeared with Ewan McGregor in Velvet Goldmine and also starred in American Psycho.

Bale became a recognised film star after his role in Batman Begins in 2005. He now lives in Los Angeles.

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