Retired firefighter attacked his girlfriend in row over smoking

Stewart Menzies left partner Julie Jamieson with horror injuries including a fractured eye socket and cheekbone when he punched her to the ground last May.

Menzies had become enraged after the woman nipped outside for a cigarette causing the smoke to blow back into his home in Gullane, East Lothian.

Julie was rushed to hospital where she was forced to have metal plates inserted in her face in a bid to repair the damage.

She continues to suffer from numbness to the right side of her face following last May’s vicious attack.

Menzies – who served in the fire service for 30 years – pleaded guilty to assaulting the woman at Muirfield Terrace, Gullane, during an appearance at Edinburgh Sheriff Court 
yesterday.

Fiscal depute Ann McNeill told the court the pair had been drinking at the village’s Golf Inn in the afternoon of May 14 last year and headed back to the father-of-two’s home for the evening.

Ms McNeill said: “The accused sat down to watch golf on the TV and this upset Ms Jamieson who said she’d had enough and wanted to go home.

“She went outside to smoke a cigarette but the accused complained to her as the smoke was drifting in and he slammed the door.

“Ms Jamieson then began to bang on the window causing the accused to go to the 
door.

“They then began arguing over ‘a silly thing’ and they began pushing each other.

“She pushed him and he pushed her.

“Suddenly he punched her on the right cheek and she fell to the ground.”

Ms McNeill added the woman’s right cheekbone and eye socket had been fractured during the attack and she continues to suffer “numbness to the right side of her face”.

Solicitor George Henry said his client had “never been in trouble in his life” and was in a position to pay “a significant compensation order”.

Mr Henry added Menzies, 55, had “no recollection” of punching the woman but accepts that he did commit the offence.

Menzies served in the Lothian and Borders fire service for 30 years before retiring recently and spent five years of his career as a Community Safety Officer delivering fire safety talks to school children.

Sheriff Donald Corke told Menzies: “In view of the nature of the injuries I have to get a report. You will be bailed in the meantime.” Sentence was deferred to next month.

Menzies admitted to assaulting Ms Jamieson by punching her to the face whereby she fell to the ground to her severe injury and permanent disfigurement at Muirfield Terrace, Gullane, on May 14 last 
year.

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