An Angus EuroMillions winner has appeared in court to admit a domestic assault on her partner.
Alicia Harper, who made headlines when she scooped a £1 million prize in 2021, hit her boyfriend with a wooden chair during a drunken row.
Police were called to the couple’s home in Arbroath in the early hours of June 2.
She told them she had picked up the chair and swung it “out of frustration”.
Harper, 26, appeared at Forfar Sheriff Court and pled guilty to a domestically-aggravated charge of assault at the couple’s Gowan Street home.
She has been given the chance to prove to the court she can stay out of trouble.
Nightclubbing
Fiscal depute Bill Kermode told the court: “The couple have been living together for five years.
“During the day in question, they had attended at a family event.
“Afterwards, they went onto a nightclub in Arbroath.
“That night, both were under the influence of alcohol.”
The prosecutor said the man returned home alone at 1am.
When Harper came back a short time later, she asked her partner why he had left the club without telling her.
“They were in the study when they started arguing,” said Mr Kermode.
“At 2.45am, the accused picked up a small wooden chair and swung it towards the complainer’s head.
“He raised his hand to defend himself and the chair struck his hand, causing pain.”
The pair then went out into the garden where the complainer called police.
Officers turned up just after 3am.
“The couple were separated,” said Mr Kermode.
“The complainer said he had a sore hand but he declined medical attention.”
Harper was arrested and taken to police HQ in Dundee for interview.
She admitted she hit her partner with the chair “out of frustration.”
Boyfriend ‘disappeared’
Solicitor Michael Boyd, defending, said: “Ms Harper tells me that she has borderline personality disorder but the principal factor here was the consumption of alcohol.”
He said his client had returned home after the club but left when she could not find her partner.
He was at the property when she came back a short time later.
“She was upset about why he had disappeared and left her.”
The solicitor asked the court to consider deferring sentence for six months to prove this was a one-off incident.
Sheriff Donald Ferguson told Harper: “You are going to demonstrate to the court that there is no repetition of this behaviour.”
He said there was no basis for a non-harassment order.
Jackpot
Harper was expecting her first child when she won the £1m Millionaire Maker in September 2021.
The designer told reporters she had nearly forgotten to buy her Lucky Dip tickets ahead of the EuroMillions draw.
Fortunately, she remembered just 10 minutes before entries closed.
Instead of quaffing champagne, she celebrated her win with some Irn Bru.
“I have always loved art and animation,” she said at the time. “Now I can make my own dream come true.”
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