A man convicted of violently assaulting a woman as he challenged her partner about an affair with his wife has been allowed keep his alcohol licence.
Bar worker Andrew Simpson was called in front of Falkirk Council's licensing board after Police Scotland informed them that he had pled guilty to assault to injury at Falkirk Sheriff Court.
However, he had not reported the conviction to the board as he is required to do as a personal licence holder.
Sergeant Liam Livingstone gave details of the assault as he asked the board to consider holding a hearing.
He said: "At about 5.30am on Saturday, August 22, 2020, Simpson attended an address in the Falkirk area to challenge a male who had been messaging his wife on social media.
"Speaking with the male, the incident became heated and a physical altercation took place between the two males.
"This awoke the householder's partner who came downstairs and tried to intervene to prevent escalation.
"As a result of this Simpson punched the female partner several times on the face as she ushered him out the front door.
"Once outside the address, in the front garden Simpson grabbed the female by the hair and struck her on the face with his hand.
"The female suffered a cut to her right eye, a swollen nose and cheekbone."
Simpson appeared in court on March 31, 2021, and was fined £600 plus £40 victim surcharge.
The board's convener, Niall Coleman, asked why the Chief Constable made no recommendation about the case.
Sgt Livingstone said that this was because two reasonable people could look at the incident and form different views.
He said: "You could look at it and say its a crime of violence, it's quite serious and it calls into question Simpson's character.
"Another person could look at it and say that its a very specific offence, directed at a specific person as a result of a specific incident.
"There's nothing that I can find that would suggest that Simpson's a violent character per se but clearly this conviction causes some concern."
Representing Simpson, solicitor Niall Hassard said that the incident had given his client "no end of shame and embarrassment".
"The circumstances are very personal but I am authorised to say that beyond the social media messaging Simpson's wife had been having an affair and after it had ended the gentleman had continued to message her.
"Simpson regrets wholeheartedly that after a sleepless night - no alcohol was involved - and very deep soul searching, when perhaps he wasn't in the best mindset, he decided to confront the individual and tell him to stop messaging his wife.
"With the benefit or hindsight, anyone can see how that was likely to escalate but that wasn't first and foremost in Simpson's mind.
"Simpson has a slightly different recollection of exactly what happened but he pled guilty to what was narrated and took full responsibility.
In answer to questioning from Councillor John McLuckie, Hassard said that the incident had been "a bit of a free for all, a bit of melee with the woman in the middle and it was messy to say the least".
Hassard told the board that Simpson has been working consistently in the licensed trade in Falkirk for 24 years and the incident was very out of character.
"During that period, he's never had a blemish against his character - he's never had an issue with the public nor has he had any issues with work."
In his submission, he said that Simpson's punishment had been provided by the court and he urged them to allow him to keep his personal licence which was needed for his job.
After deliberations, Convener Niall Coleman said that there was a suggestion that this was an isolated incident and "that could well be true" but it was important to make sure that this was not the beginning of a pattern of behaviour.
While he did not feel it merited a revocation or suspension, he suggested an endorsement would allow future members of the board to be aware of the incident if it was appropriate in the future.
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