Fire crew boss admits pub brawl assaults

LOCHGELLY: Female firefighter attacked two women in drunken incident

A top female firefighter has admitted assaulting two people during a drunken brawl in a Fife bar.

Stacey Hodge appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court on Thursday and pled guilty to three charges.

The 37-year-old admitted assaulting Evelyn Skene after seizing her by the throat at Diamonds Bar in Lochgelly on March 4.

She also then attacked another woman by kicking her on the body and seizing her on the head all to her injury.

Hodge, who was the face of a female recruitment campaign by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, also admitted acting in a threatening and abusive manner.

She shouted, swore, uttered threats of violence and pushed over a table during the drunken incident at the pub.

The mum-of-one, of Boyd Place in Lochgelly, was ordered to pay her two victims a total of £450 compensation.

She was fined £300 for the attack on Ms Skene and £600 for the assault on Lauren Thomson.

Hodge was also given a £225 fine for the behaving in a threatening and abusive manner charge.

The crew manager, who worked at Glenrothes fire station, had not guilty pleas to three other charges accepted by the Crown.

The Lochgelly woman was also originally charged with “wilfully or recklessly” destroying or damaging property by striking a fire alarm causing it to break.

She was also charged with assaulting a man by biting him on the body to his injury.

Hodge was further accused of acting in a threatening and abusive manner during a journey in a marked police car to Dunfermline police station.

She had been accused of shouting, swearing and uttering abusive remarks which was aggravated by prejudice relating to disability.

The firefighter has worked for the service since 2008 and was selected to spearhead a campaign to recruit more female crew members.

It followed a 2,000-mile journey across Europe to Serbia where she delivered a fire engine and shared her skills and knowledge with fellow firefighters.

Posts about her successes were deleted from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s website.

Roddie Keith is the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s local senior officer for Fife, Stirling and Clackmannanshire.

He said: “The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is aware that crew manager Stacey Hodge yesterday tendered a plea of guilty to several charges including assault at Dunfermline Sheriff Court and was subsequently fined.

“The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service expects the very highest standards of all its employees and will now enact our full and thorough internal procedures on this matter.”

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service ... will now enact our full and thorough internal procedures on this matter