Wetherspoons attacker from Moray sentenced after punching stranger in Elgin pub

A 35-year-old has been fined for an attack in Wetherspoons which left a stranger requiring emergency dental care.

Mitchell McGrath punched his victim in the face in The Muckle Cross on Sunday, July 14, Elgin Sheriff Court heard on Thursday.

Sentencing, Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov fined the attacker £540 and ordered him to give £200 to the man he punched.

Fiscal depute Karen Poke said McGrath did not know his victim, who was at the Wetherspoons pub that night as the designated driver for a “work leaving do”.

At around 6pm, the man went outside to smoke but found McGrath blocking his path.

Sometime later, Ms Poke said the 35-year-old was seen “staggering away from the bar after being denied service”.

McGrath came and put his arms around a friend of the victim, before being asked to leave.

“...bloody nose and three teeth were chipped...”

At that point, Ms Poke added, he “saw a change in the accused’s mood”.

Backing the designated driver against a wall, McGrath punched him in the head.

After the attack, patrolling police officers spotted the victim outside the door with a “bloody nose and three teeth were chipped”.

Ms Poke said the man told police that “he had been in an altercation”.

The man’s injuries required emergency dental treatment at Dr Gray’s Hospital.

“...ashamed and horrified...”

Sentencing for McGrath, of Scone Road, Elgin, had previously been delayed for the preparation of reports.

Solicitor Megan Lee said the 35-year-old, who works as a parcel delivery driver, was “ashamed and horrified” by his actions, and has “no memory of the incident”.

In the year since the attack, the man had “reconsidered his relationship with alcohol”, she added and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.

She argued that McGrath had engaged well with social work during the preparation of reports.

Though the delivery driver did not have recent convictions, Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov said: “These are serious matters, and you do have a record of violence.”

She ordered the Elgin man to pay a total of £740, fining him £540 and ordering him to pay £200 in compensation to his victim.