Convicted robber is cleared of glass attack

A failed businessman serving four years for using a toy gun in a string of raids has been cleared of a glass attack.

Ross Travers, 37, had been accused of slamming a tumbler into the face of Craig Allen, 31.

He was caged earlier this year for robbery using an imitation pistol.

A jury found claims he hammered the man with the beaker not proven at Paisley Sheriff Court.

Defence lawyer Kirsten Ferguson insisted her client acted in self-defence when confronted by “an angry and drunken” Mr Allen.

She said: “He did have a glass in his hand at the time.

“He simply pushed him away in self-defence and he simply came in to contact with the glass.

“He accepts he panicked and ran out of the room.”

Travers had been accused of striking Mr Allen in the face with the tumbler at a flat in Paisley’s Green Road.

He was rushed to the nearby Royal Alexandra Hospital and needed four stitches to a 3cm gash on the right side of his nose.

Mr Allen also had scrapes to his eye and cuts on his forehead.

The court heard he was treated at A&E on March 13 last year.

Prosecutor David McDonald maintained the incident had been deliberate.

He said: “Ross Travers chose to take a glass and smash it in to Mr Allen’s face, causing the injuries we’ve heard about and the scar we’ve seen.

“Ross Travers has nothing to lose by lying and nothing to gain by telling the truth.”

Travers was locked-up after he was convicted of robbery and two attempted robberies at the High Court in Glasgow in March.

He turned to crime after his insurance company went bust.

The dad armed himself with a toy gun before trying to hold-up a petrol station in Clarkston, East Renfrewshire.

He demanded staff fill a bag with bank notes on December 23, 2016.

But he left emptyhanded when the worker thought it was a prank and another motor pulled onto the forecourt.

He then tried to steal a guitar from a student in nearby Busby on March 29 last year.

The musician refused to handover the gear, believing the pistol was plastic.

Travers pulled the fake gun on a Co- Op worker in the Clarkston area the same day and swiped £100.

He was snared after police swooped on his home and found his DNA on a fake pistol in a bedroom.

Lord Mulholland told Travers his actions were “deplorable”.

He said: “Many people have problems but don’t resort to criminality.”

Travers, formerly of George Street, Barrhead, said “thank you” when he was cleared of the glass attack on Tuesday.

Sheriff Tom McCartney confirmed the jury’s verdict and sent Travers down to complete the rest of his four-year stretch.

He said: “The charge against you on this indictment has been found to be not proven and that, therefore, concludes this matter in respect of you.”