A Thurso man narrowly avoided a prison sentence yesterday after admitting an assault outside a town pub.
Kevin Angus, 37, punched Michael Shearer, causing him to fall to the ground.
The incident was witnessed by two detectives driving past Mr C’s bar in the early hours of December 27.
They stopped and arrested the accused, Wick Sheriff Court was told.
Angus, of Trostan Terrace in Thurso, pleaded guilty to an amended charge and admitted a record which caused Sheriff Andrew Berry “considerable” concern.
The sheriff noted that Angus was in full employment and had family commitments but commented: “All that went out of the window at 1.30am in the morning the in the pub.”
Sheriff Berry, who observed that the accused’s record included convictions for assault, told him he had escaped a substantial custodial sentence “by the thinnest of margins”.
Angus was ordered to carry out 190 hours unpaid work within eight months, during which he is banned from entering Mr C’s bar.
