Andrew Noble (54), address given as 20 Watson Place, had denied assaulting a barmaid at a Rothesay pub on May 11 last year by throwing a glass tumbler at her and striking the bar gantry, covering her in shards of glass as a result.

Finding Noble guilty, Sheriff John Herald advised him: "I'll be quite blunt. Rarely have I heard a story as incredible as the one you have given today. Then, on the other hand, I have the barmaid's evidence - I find you guilty as libelled."

The court had heard earlier from the barmaid in question, who described how Noble had entered the pub in the Watergate at around 4pm. His manner of speech, which she described as "effing and blinding", had given her cause to ask him four times to "keep it down", she said.

On the fourth occasion she told Noble to finish his pint and leave - at which point, she said, he threw the contents of the glass over her, drenching her.

He then threw the glass at her and, although it missed her, it struck the gantry and showered her with pieces of glass.

The barmaid went on to describe how she turned away and cowered in a corner while she called the police.

As she did this, she said she saw Noble punch or push a "wee old man".
Fiscal depute Lindy Scaife told the barmaid it might be suggested she had hit Noble with a bottle, but the barmaid vehemently denied this - and continued to do so under cross examination by Noble's agent, Derek Buchanan.

Called to the stand by Mr Buchanan, Noble maintained that he had not ordered a pint because a medical condition meant he was unable to drink beer.

Noble alleged that he had consumed two brandies in another pub, and had asked the barmaid in the Argyll Arms for a double brandy and had told her to have a drink with him.

He further alleged that she had refused to do so, and had taken £3 from his change.

Noble told the court he had remonstrated with the barmaid and ended up in Watergate with a man standing on his groin while she was hitting him with a bottle.

But Sheriff Herald was having none of this and asked Noble incredulously: "This happened at four o'clock in the afternoon, in a public street?"

Sentence was deferred until April 28 for background reports; Noble was warned that at the very least he faced being banned from the Argyll Arms.

Noble was sentenced to five months in prison in February for committing a breach of the peace and threatening to shoot a woman in an incident in Victoria Street on December 21.