One of the country’s top chefs is facing a trial after being accused of attacking another man with a cricket bat outside his restaurant.
William Deans, who won gold for Scotland at the culinary Olympics, spent a weekend in custody after being arrested in Perth.
The 53-year-old former Scottish Chef of the Year appeared at Perth Sheriff Court and denied attacking Gary Cummings on 7 June.
He denied using the cricket bat to repeatedly strike and injure Mr Cummings on the head and body near Deans Restaurant in Perth.
The charge alleges Deans assaulted Mr Cummings, who runs a property letting business with his wife, by “repeatedly striking him on the head and body with a cricket bat to his injury.”
It is alleged to have taken place in Carpenter Street, Perth, on 7 June. Deans, Glenorchil View, Auchterarder, Perthshire, denied the charge and trial was set for Perth Sheriff Court in March next year.
Deans formerly worked at the Turnberry Hotel in Ayrshire and was head chef at the Buttery in Glasgow for a number of years.
He won Young Master Chef of the Year and was named Scottish Chef of the Year in 1995, as well as being runner-up in British Chef of the Year in 1996.
While at the Buttery, he was named Restaurant Chef of the Year by the Craft Guild of Chefs. He also won the ultimate accolade of AA Restaurant of the Year in 2004.
He lectured for seven years in Glasgow and during that period represented Scotland several times in the culinary Olympics, winning gold and a number of other medals.