Wife shopped police officer husband to end his drinking

Neil Gordon, 39, has denied charges of headbutting and pushing his partner Alana in a heated argument at the West Lothian home they used to share in Linlithgow Bridge last May.

But yesterday, he walked free, as she claimed she only reported the attack because she was trying to get him urgent help for his drink problem.

His wife Alana – who now uses the surname Belanger – told how she called 999 to report the alleged late night assault after “exchanging unpleasantries” with the accused.

A recording was played at Livingston Sheriff Court in which the MP’s case worker is heard telling the call handler her husband pushed her in the back and head butted her as she went for a cigarette.

She claimed in evidence that she only made the emergency call because she wanted fellow police officers to come and speak to her husband about his “consistent drinking”.

She said he had been drinking all evening and had just poured himself another glass of wine.

Referring to the 999 call handler’s reaction, she told the court: “When I said we were having issues she paused, and that signalled to me that I hadn’t said enough to get them there.

“He was effectively drinking himself into a grave and I didn’t know what to say to get them there.”

She insisted in court that she had “unintentionally lied” during the emergency call to get help for her man’s drink problem and had then been forced to stick to her story.

She claimed she could not remember repeating the assault claims in two further official statements and suggested police officers who noted her evidence must have been mistaken.

She also could not recall giving officers detailed information such as: “I got a 
small bruise just behind the hairline on the left side behind the ear” explaining in court that she had a “pre-existing injury” on her head. Depute fiscal Katrine Craig said to her: “You phoned the police on the emergency number and you lied to them. Is that correct?”

She replied: “Unintentionally. I didn’t mean to lie but we needed intervention.

“Something needed to be done because the police left him on this own with this mental health problem.

“They’re his peers and his colleagues.

“I attempted myself to help Neil which didn’t work.

“I felt at the time if anybody could help it would be his colleagues.”

At the end of Miss Belanger’s evidence in chief, Ms Craig announced that the Crown didn’t intend to proceed.

She added: “I’m not seeking a conviction.”

The fiscal said the Crown was not taking any action against the Miss Belanger.