Officer cleared of being abusive to wife at Gretna Green wedding

A police inspector who was cleared during a trial of two charges of assaulting his bride on their wedding night at Gretna Green, has now been acquitted of a remaining charge of abusive behaviour towards her.

A plea of not guilty by 52-year-old William Shields to shouting and swearing at bride, Michelle, at Green’s Hotel at Gretna on Hogmanay was accepted by the procurator fiscal depute when the part heard trial was due to continue at Dumfries Sheriff court.

It followed the start of the trial last month during which the inspector was cleared of the two charges of assaulting his new wife.

He had denied the charges alleging that he dragged her off a stool in the lounge area of the hotel, pushed her on the back and caused her to stumble and then in a room pushed her onto a bed and struck her on the head as well as covered her mouth and nose with his hand.

The trial had been due to continue on the charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner towards her but the fiscal depute Jennifer McGill told the court: “I am accepting a plea of not guilty to that remaining charge.”

The Strathclyde inspector, who’s originally from Glasgow, and had since moved south to Lancashire, was not present when the acquittal was announced