A councillor who was brutally attacked by a Lanarkshire pub landlord has welcomed his attacker's two year jail sentence.
Peter Hilley, 57, launched a vicious assault on Greg Lennon, 44, at his Big Shop pub in Glenboig. The SNP councillor, first elected in 2017, was chased, knocked to the ground and then punched, kicked and stamped on.
He had just celebrated New Year with his wife Tracy when the incident happened.
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Lennon had his jaw and eye socket shattered and had to receive surgery for his wounds and still feels numbness on the right side of his face.
Hilley, of Bellshill, denied all wrongdoing and went on trial at Airdrie Sheriff Court but was convicted by a jury of assault to severe injury and permanent impairment.
He was also found guilty of shouting and swearing at Lennon and his wife and shoving her to the ground during the incident in January 2020.
Sheriff Derek Livingston said he would be 'undoubtedly failing' in his duty if he did not send Hilley to jail.
The trial heard the pub had put on a fireworks display to see in the New Year, but trouble flared later as punters complained they weren't being given enough time to finish their drinks before closing time.
Lennon said he was trying to defuse the situation and calm down a furious Hilley.
Hilley, who has now sold his pub, claimed the councillor and his wife got into a row with three youths who were responsible for the attack on him.
Patricia Baillie, defence advocate, said: "It is right to acknowledge the serious nature of the charges that the jury convicted him of and he is well aware that custody will be at the forefront of the court's mind.
"The pub has now been sold after the licence became an issue, which is not surprising given these charges and he intends taking up new employment once this case has been resolved."
Sheriff Livingston said: "I have listened to everything that has been said but I consider that I would undoubtedly be failing in my duty if I did not impose a significant sentence."
Welcoming the verdict, Lennon said: "No one expects to go out for a quiet drink at a local village pub to celebrate Hogmanay and end up brutally attacked at the end of the night.
"Throughout the trial my wife and I had to relive this traumatic experience numerous times and to add insult to injury we were presented in a negative light to suit the fabricated narrative of the defence, I suppose that is to be expected.
"However Mr Hilley's actions that night were indefensible as Mr Hilley openly threatened physical violence on a young bar maid, which compelled me to interject and this transpired to be the catalyst for the mob-style attack on both my wife and I as we left to go home."
He added: "Although I will carry the long term physical damage of that night, Mr Hilley clearly demonstrated himself as a very violent individual and this verdict will hopefully ensure no one else falls victim to this person.
"Both my wife and I are just glad that we can finally put this matter behind us and move on with our lives after two very long years of dealing with this."
Earlier this year Lennon, who represents Gartcosh, Glenboig and Moodiesburn on North Lanarkshire Council, was cleared of acting in a threatening or abusive manner and trying to prevent a woman from voting at a general election polling station in Glasgow in 2019.
He is chief executive of Brunswick Community Development Trust, a voluntary organisation working with disadvantaged groups in Glasgow.
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