A jealous lover has been jailed for launching a racist attack in an Aberdeen nightclub while he celebrated the new year.
Josh Cox was bringing in 2019 with his girlfriend at Atik on Bridge Place and had “obviously been drinking a lot”.
At one point, the 27-year-old was at the bar and spotted a man, of Pakistani origin, approaching his partner – appearing to “chat her up”.
Cox began talking with someone else for a few minutes and, when he looked back over, saw the man had grown even closer and was leaning in towards the woman.
He rushed over and shouted “Don’t speak to my girl” before punching him in the face.
Cox then unleashed a string of racial slurs at the man, who was left lying on the floor and made no attempt to fight back.
His victim had been left with an inch-long cut on the side of his face and needed stitches in hospital.
Cox admitted the crime at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday, and heard that his victim has been left permanently scarred.
His solicitor, Graham Morrison, said: “He is not proud of it and it has cost him dearly.
“He has made a real mess of things.”
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank sentenced Cox, of Greentrees Gardens in Inverurie, to seven months behind bars, backdated to February 23 when he was first taken into custody.