A CONVICTED armed robber who claimed he was ready to quit the north-east to start a new life in the Alps beat up his girlfriend in a row over a packet of cigarettes.
Paul Macklin – who has been in and out of prison for 20 years – said just months ago that he wanted to put his life of crime behind him and make a fresh start in the mountains of France.
But yesterday, the former Gordonstoun pupil appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court accused of attacking his long-term girlfriend, Julie Davidson.
The 40-year-old – who said his education at the Moray private school had helped him cope with lengthy jail sentences – admitted pushing Miss Davidson and punching her repeatedly outside a petrol station.
The fracas in North Anderson Drive, Aberdeen, was triggered by her buying a packet of cigarettes.
Fiscal depute Saima Rasheed told the court the couple had gone out for tea and on their way home had gone into the Cocket Hat filling station.
She said: “Miss Davidson bought a packet of cigarettes and Macklin took hold of her handbag. She attempted to get the handbag back by grabbing his arm. He pushed her away.”
The pair left the shop, but the rest of the incident was caught on CCTV, Ms Rasheed said.
“He grabbed her and they fell to the ground,” the fiscal depute said. “He straddled her and began to repeatedly punch her to the head and body, four to six times.”
She told the court Miss Davidson’s back had been injured in the attack on August 26 and she had a small cut to her ear and grazed fingers.
Ms Rasheed added that the victim had also been charged with assault but the case had been dropped.
Defence solicitor John Hardie insisted Macklin had been provoked, although he regretted lashing out.
He said his client, of 16 Moir Drive, Aberdeen, had been on antidepressants at the time and began to feel unwell after having a few drinks, so he asked Miss Davidson if they could go home.
Mr Hardie said the couple had gone into the petrol station and Miss Davidson had bought a packet of cigarettes – causing some “friction” as Macklin thought she had stopped smoking 20 weeks before.
He told the court: “When he takes her handbag, it’s the cigarettes that she’s just bought that he is trying to stop her having access to. She followed him out of the petrol station and it’s clear from the evidence that Macklin is walking away from her and maintains a steady pace. She continues to pursue him to recover her bag and she does strike him and scratch him.
“He snaps, loses his temper and they both end up on the deck and he strikes her several times.
“It’s a matter of enormous regret, but it wasn’t without provocation.”
Sheriff Graeme Napier said: “He’s a man with plenty previous convictions for serious violence and the provocation was not significant.
“He should be able to control himself.”
Macklin responded directly, blaming the mix of prescription drugs and alcohol, before insisting he would have made a different decision if he had been sober.
But Sheriff Napier told him it was his choice to drink and that he still had an element of free will.
He fined Macklin £2,700 and said: “You’re getting a huge benefit of the doubt in this case.”
Macklin was released from prison in May after serving nearly 10 years for threatening two police officers with a gun in 2003 – a conviction he is still fighting to overturn.
In 1994, he was jailed for eight years for his part in an attempted £300,000 wages heist at a council depot at Kittybrewster in Aberdeen.
When approached by police, Macklin hijacked a motorist at gunpoint to make his getaway.
In an exclusive interview with the Press and Journal last year, Macklin – who comes from a family of surgeons and barristers and whose father is a retired oil boss – acknowledged he had thrown away his privileges to pursue a life of violence and claimed crime gave him the same rush as his beloved adrenalin sports.