An Inverness bar manager activated body-worn CCTV before he was assaulted by a drunk customer.
Ryan McFarlane was so intoxicated that staff at The King’s Highway refused to serve him more alcohol, causing him to become “aggressive and confrontational”.
The manager of the Wetherspoons bar activated a body-worn CCTV system during the exchange, which saw McFarlane throw a pint at him, spit in his face and push him to the ground.
McFarlane, 28, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit charges of threatening and abusive behaviour and assault at the Church Street premises.
Fiscal depute Robert Weir said the incident began around 5.10pm on September 6 of last year.
He said: “The accused was within and was intoxicated. Due to this, he was advised that he would not no longer be served alcohol.
“The accused responded by becoming confrontational and aggressive.”
Body-worn CCTV activated
It was at this point that the worker activated a body-worn CCTV camera, after which McFarlane picked up a pint glass full of alcohol and threw it directly at the manager.
McFarlane was asked to leave and responded by saying: “Or what?” before telling the man to shut up and calling him a p*** and a c***.
He was repeatedly asked to leave, but as he walked out of the door he turned and spat in the man’s face.
The bar manager then used a ShopSafe radio to alert authorities to the altercation, but when McFarlane spotted this he ran back and chased the worker back inside the building.
“He pushed him into a display board, causing him to fall to the floor,” Mr Weir said.
Police traced McFarlane nearby and he was arrested.
Solicitor Marc Dickson for McFarlane, of Bridge Street, Nairn, said his client had a “very limited recollection” of the incident.
He said: “He had been drinking, and was very, very intoxicated. It was as a consequence of that that bar staff intervened. This caused Mr McFarlane to react in an entirely inappropriate way.”
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank called for a community justice social work report and and restriction of liberty assessment and continued McFarlane’s bail until the case calls again next month.
