A chef who worked at a top private school has paid £1,000 compensation to two children he was found guilty of assaulting with a rusty buckled belt.
Andrew Inglis was found guilty of attacking the 11 and nine-year-old boys by forcing them to stand against a wall while he hit them with the belt.
Perth Sheriff Court was told on Wednesday that Inglis, 39, had set up trust-fund style accounts to pay £500 compensation to each of the two victims.
Inglis had been ordered by a sheriff last year to set up the accounts.
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said the interest-bearing accounts would be held in place until the boys turned 18 and could use them to fund further education.
He also told Inglis that the bank accounts would remind him of the criminal behaviour he carried out on the children on 19 January last year.
The court was told that Inglis had stormed off to get a belt to hit the boys because they were “larking about” and encouraging a younger child to swear.
The 11-year-old boy told the court: “He shouted up to us to be quiet.
“I didn’t know we were being loud. He told us to get down the stairs.
“He told us to turn and face the wall. He came down with his belt.
“The television was on but it was paused. I think he was just angry.
“He came down with his belt and hit us with it.
Inglis, who was working as a chef at Glenalmond College in Perthshire, admitted smacking the children at a Perth address but claimed he had not struck them with the belt.
However, Sheriff Foulis found him guilty.
The sheriff said: “Both boys gave evidence in a manner which persuaded me they were credible and reliable.
“I quite simply do not accept the account you have given.
“I want you to set money aside to set up accounts in the boys’ names which only they can access, so they will get these funds in the future when they are 18.
“It will be interest bearing so some money will accrue to them.
“The boys will benefit and it will act as an aide memoire as far as you are concerned.”
Solicitor Jamie Baxter, defending, told the court he had evidence the accounts had been set up, but sentence was deferred for Sheriff Foulis to deal with the case.