The former boss of the Carnock Inn in Fife has been cleared of assaulting a drunken punter who made a crude and insulting comment to his wife.
Douglas Collin, who previously ran the pub near Dunfermline with his wife Elaine, was accused of assaulting Graham Jewell, 74 of Oakley, on Carnock’s Main street on May 3 2019.
Mr Jewell told the woman he would like to “bend her over the bar” and went on to make the disgusting remark.
However, a sheriff dismissed the case following a no case to answer submission by Collin’s defence agent, Gordon Martin.
Sheriff Charles Macnair ruled it could not be proved cuts to Mr Jewell’s face were as a result of being punched by Mr Collin.
He said they could be the result of a fall as he was ejected from the pub.
Abused bar staff after being refused more alcohol
Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard Mr Jewell had become abusive to bar staff after becoming drunk and being refused more alcohol.
He made a number of sexual remarks to staff, including telling Mrs Collin that he wanted to have sex with her.
She said: “He was very abusive to staff.
“At one point he told me he wanted to bend me over and take me from behind.”
Asked by fiscal depute Alistair McDermid what she thought Jewell meant by that, she answered: “That he wanted to have sex with me.”
She said she did not initially tell her husband about the comment and Jewell was eventually ejected from the pub.
However in the process, both he and Mr Collin fell over a bar stool.
After Mr Jewell left the Carnock Inn she said Mr Collin went out the back of the pub, where she told him about the comments.
Jewell had ‘urinated himself’
Their son-in-law Kevin Cook had been drinking in the bar and overheard the comments made to Mrs Collin.
He said he had gone to check on Mr Jewell and found him at a bus stop, where he had “cuts” on his face and had urinated in his trousers.
The daughter of Mr Jewell’s ex-partner, Leona Fozzard was passing at the time and offered to take him home.
She gave evidence she had seen Mr Collin in the car park of the Carnock Inn as she passed seconds before.
Mr Jewell had claimed Mr Collin punched him in the face before “running off” and that a ring worn by the accused had cut his face.
Accepting Mr Martin’s submission of no case to answer, Sheriff Macnair said: “I’m satisfied the injuries, which he indubitably had at the bus stop, was corroborated.
“There’s no indication of the accused going to the bus stop.
“Whilst it’s not the clearest of cases, I am satisfied there’s not enough evidence for me to convict the accused.”
