An aristocrat’s son punched a mature PhD student in the face and pinned him to the ground after discovering he was wild camping on the family’s Perthshire estate.
Archie Linklater then sat on a rock, smoking a pipe and watching shocked student Kenneth Hainning, 46, pack up his tent.
Mr Hainning told Perth Sheriff Court he was “knocked senseless” by Linklater and was completely “shocked and bewildered” by the unprovoked attack.
Linklater accepted hitting and injuring Mr Hainning by punching him before pinning him to the ground and placing him in a headlock on May 6 last year.
Mr Hainning, from Falkirk, told a trial: “I have camped so many times in the Highlands and never had problems at all.
“I was sitting on a rock near the loch, by my tent.
“He walked towards me. It wasn’t in a threatening manner, but he was quite a large man.
“When I asked if there was a problem, he said ‘this is my brother’s land.’ He said ‘my brother owns the estate around here.’
“He made it clear he wanted me to move the tent. I pointed out that I was wild camping and I had the right to be there.
“After a while he started to become aggressive in his speech. I was tired and a little confused by the whole thing. I wasn’t aggressive or antagonistic towards him.
“I suggested he should phone the police if he was not happy and then he punched me in the face. He was a lot bigger than me.
“It was twice, I think. The first had knocked me senseless. I tumbled backwards and hit my arm on the rock.”
Mr Hainning said Linklater then got on top of him and twisted his arm, telling him to move his tent.
“It was so bizarre,” he added.
“After I started to move the tent, he went and sat and smoked a pipe, 20 or 30 feet away.
“My back was very sore afterwards. I had bruising on my arm and back.”
Mr Hainning said his mobility was affected and he took painkillers for six weeks.
Linklater, 49, was accused of assaulting Mr Hainning on the shore of Loch Ordie on Butterstone estate near Dunkeld.
He also faced a second charge of causing fear or alarm by acting in a threatening or intimidating manner towards medical informatics student Mr Hainning. His solicitor told the court his client accepted Mr Hainning was a “credible and reliable witness” and they did not dispute his version of events in any way.
However, he said Linklater – the son of Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Linklater of Butterstone and great- grandson of former Liberal Party leader Archibald Sinclair, 1st Viscount Thurso – should be acquitted due to a long-standing mental disorder.
He told the court Linklater should be found not guilty as he was unaware of the wrongfulness of his conduct at the time.
Defence expert witness Professor David Owens, 70, professor of clinical psychiatry at Edinburgh University, said Linklater was taking mood stabilising drugs for bipolar affective disorder.
He said: “It seems uncharacteristic that he would go out of his way to accost this man.
“He is frequently intimidating, assertive and forceful, but I have no recollection of him ever assaulting anyone.”
Sheriff Keith O’Mahoney said: “Mr Hainning clearly told the truth. He was clearly subject to a frightening event and I commend him in open court for his restraint.
“It is clear that Mr Linklater was suffering from a mental disorder.
“As to whether he would have appreciated the wrongfulness of his conduct, I will be guided by the expert evidence. I am satisfied the defence has been established.”
Linklater, whose author and ex-newspaper editor father Magnus Linklater was in court, was found not guilty.