A PENSIONER who was one of the first people charged with breaching Scotland's smoking ban was yesterday cleared of lighting up in a pub.
John Wraith, 67, denied smoking at the Burnett Arms Hotel in Kemnay, Aberdeenshire, on 3 January, 2007.
Wraith, of Craigearn Park, Kemnay, told Aberdeen Sheriff Court that he had not smoked at the bar and only learned of the accusations from polic
e.
It became illegal to smoke in public places in Scotland on 26 March, 2005. Councils across the country have introduced smoking enforcers to visit pubs, nightclubs and workplaces.
Sheriff Graeme Buchanan yesterday said the evidence of Eric Needham, who claimed to have seen Wraith with a lit cigarette, was "shifty, evasive and contradictory" and could not be relied upon.
Mr Needham, 33, a van driver who worked at the hotel as a DJ and occasional barman, initially said he saw Wraith with a cigarette before hearing Sally Barclay, a barmaid, tell him to put it out.
He added that he then noticed the cigarette was lit.
The court also heard from a friend of Wraith's that Mr Needham had later admitted that he had not seen a lit cigarette and heard that Wraith had turned up at the hotel close to midnight with a group of friends for last orders.
Wraith, who described himself as a "heavy smoker", was asked by solicitor John Hardie whether he may have forgotten lighting up.
"Absolutely not," he replied.
Wraith's evidence was supported by David Clark, 45, a non-smoking friend who had been with him in the bar.
Mr Clark said Mr Needham had told him months later that he had not seen a lit cigarette, but had merely seen someone "flick" a cigarette.
Delivering his verdict, Sheriff Buchanan said: "There is someone lying here, more than one probably, but the situation is the one I was most unhappy with was Mr Needham. He seemed shifty, evasive and contradictory and I would not regard his evidence as providing corroboration for Ms Barclay's evidence."
Wraith previously pleaded guilty to breach of the peace and assaulting Ms Barclay on the same night.
Sentencing on these charges was deferred until 17 March.
Last night, Simon Clark, director of the pro-smoking lobby group Forest,
said: "Hopefully, we will not see any more cases like this.
" It's ridiculous to take people to court for such a trivial offence."
The full article contains 403 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
