A Moray restaurant owner and chef who spent the night behind bars after a night out turned nasty at home has been spared punishment by the court.
Aaron Judge, who is known as the Bearded Chef, was arrested after a struggle with his wife on June 11 last year following his first night out since the start of the pandemic.
During the incident, Judge was shouting, swearing and acting aggressively and the police were called over safety concerns.
The 43-year-old businessman, who owns The Bearded Chef catering firm and Elgin restaurant HQ, had earlier been enjoying an evening out with his wife.
When Judge appeared in the dock at Elgin Sheriff Court last November, his defence solicitor said that the pressures of keeping the couple’s business afloat had led to rising tensions at home.
‘Tensions were high’
Fiscal depute Naomi Duffy-Welsh previously told the court: “They had a minor verbal confrontation and tensions were high between them.
“They got home and the accused was noted to be slamming a cupboard door off the wall in the hallway.”
Someone, not Judge’s wife, called police about the disturbance and he later spent a night in custody at Elgin police station.
The chef, who has also appeared as an extra in TV shows including Outlander, Good Omens and The Crown, most recently appeared in the dock at Elgin Sheriff Court.
He admitted one charge of threatening or abusive behaviour, shouting and swearing and engaging in a struggle with his wife.
In a separate charge, he also pled guilty to placing a child in a headlock.
Defence agent Stephen Carty said: “This was their first time out together in two years. It was a relatively minor fallout between the pair and the fact was tensions had been building.
“When they got home, the argument became somewhat more vocal.”
Mr Carty added that Judge was “embarrassed by his behaviour” and told the court his client had analogous past domestic matters.
Judge, of Maxwell Street in Fochabers, had placed on a structured deferred sentence and ordered he be of good behaviour for six months and having done so he was admonished by Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov.
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