The Evening Times has reported of a chef who has avoided jail time for singing sectarian songs and shouting abuse on a Glasgow bus.
George McGhee was on the number 2 First Bus when other passengers heard him singing the offensive songs. The police were called and he was arrested but kept up the abuse using the expression 'f***** b*******'.
He alleged that he had been attacked by a female passenger on the bus who was also shouting and swearing.
Glasgow Sheriff Court heard that he had been at a pub drinking before getting the bus home.
His lawyer pointed out that McGhee had been clar of the courts for the past four years and that his family had recently been derailed by the recent death of his clients granddaughter.
he defence lawyer said: “This is a 55-year-old man who has suffered a recent bereavement that has devastated his family.
“His last offence was in 2013 and was admonished. Before that, it was 2011 and that was also admonished.”
The lawyer added: “He did suffer the indignity of being attacked by this woman for no reason.
“He had been drinking in a public house in Govan.
“He regrets his behaviour and is upset the other person on the bus who assaulted him was not arrested.
“He has suffered as the result of the death of a grandchild from a rare condition that has destabilised the whole family.”
Sheriff Cameron handed McGhee two fines.
The first, for a charge of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner aggravated by religious prejudice on the bus, saw him slapped with a £270 fine.
The second, also for £270, was for religiously aggravated threatening and abusive behaviour on the journey to Govan police office.
Read the original article at: http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/15321428.Drunk_chef_dodges_jail_for_sectarian_abuse_on_bus/