A joiner has been fined £320 after he brutally headbutted another passenger in a scuffle at Edinburgh Airport.
Gary Taylor, 51, lost his nerve after a man overtook him in the queue for boarding and lashed out in the terminal.
Whilst trying to board the plane to London, Emilis Degutis was whacked by Taylor, leaving him with a cut lip as they waited for the evening flight.
According to the court, Taylor had told Degutis to pass him in the queue before assaulting him in the face when he did so.
On Monday, Taylor, from Hertforshire, was excused attendance at the Edinburgh Sheriff Court but admitted the assault charge on Mr Degutis, reports the Daily Record.
Fiscal depute Ross Carvel said the incident took place at the airport’s gate four at around 7.30pm, as all passengers headed to catch the flight back to England.
Mr Carvel said: “The accused told this individual to pass him and the accused moved to the side to allow them to do so.
“As (Emilis) went past him, the accused headbutted him in the face. This caused his lip to bleed.
“He noticed the accused was smelling of alcohol.”
Mr Carvel said Emilis was “perhaps unsurprisingly shocked by what he perceived as a random attack on him” and left the boarding queue to alert police.
Taylor, of Herfordshire in England, was arrested by police at 8.05pm following the assault on February 10 last year.
Defence agent Jennifer Cameron tendered a guilty plea on her client’s behalf.
The court heard from a letter submitted by Taylor which said he was “ashamed” and “bitterly regrets his actions”.
The self-employed joiner was catching a flight home, the court was told, and he allowed Emilis and his pal to go in front of him.
Taylor “thought something had been said to him”, but accepted he was incorrect.
Sheriff Adrian Fraser fined him £320 and ordered him to pay £50 in victim compensation.
