Night out at Fife panto ended in fisticuffs...oh yes it did!

Man, 42, gets in fight with teenager at Lochgelly Christmas show

A fight broke out after a Fife pantomime over accusations that a young girl had been sipping beer during the show.

David Hopkins insisted the youngster had been drinking Ribena from a sports bottle but a night of Christmas cheer turned into festive fisticuffs as the theatre emptied following the panto in Lochgelly.

Hopkins, 42, saw red after a woman who had been sitting next to his group told him he should be ashamed of himself.

In the heated argument that followed, he got into a fist fight with a 15-year-old boy, who tried to stick up for the accuser.

Hopkins, of Ballingry Lane, Lochgelly, appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court yesterday and admitted fighting with the teenager at David Street, Lochgelly, on December 21 last year.

Depute fiscal Rebecca Clark said: “The woman saw the accused drinking from a bottle of Budweiser during the show. She also believed she saw him putting the beer bottle to the girl’s mouth.

“She didn’t see at that time if the child consumed any of it. She later noticed the girl being handed the bottle and she believed she saw her drinking from it.

“The show finished and all parties exited. They went into the car park and the grandmother saw the accused and said to him, ‘You should be ashamed of yourself’.”

Ms Clark said Hopkins asked the child if she had drunk from the beer bottle and she said “no I was just pretending”.

An argument flared up and punches were thrown between Hopkins and the boy.

Defence solicitor Gordon Martin said Hopkins was adamant the child did not drink any beer, but conceded she may have put the bottle to her mouth.

“She had her own drink, Ribena in a sports bottle,” he said.

“Mr Hopkins doesn’t remember any exchange of punches,” he added. “It’s a one-off incident.” Sheriff Keith O’Mahoney said: “Whatever the circumstances and background, it’s entirely unacceptable for a man in his 40s to become involved in a physical confrontation with a 15-year-old child.”

He fined Hopkins £560.