Jailed in US, Scots medic who attacked love rival
A HIGH-flying student doctor has been jailed for 30 days in the US for assaulting a man he thought was having an affair with his girlfriend.
Tony Boyd’s medical career could be over before it has begun after he admitted attacking Stephen Mayer in a jealous rage when he found him in Sophie Kelly’s bedroom.
Boyd, from Troon, Ayrshire, had flown to see Miss Kelly in Wisconsin and was also accused of firing a shot from a gun he found in Mr Mayer’s bag.
At Waukesha county court Boyd pleaded guilty to battery and causing criminal damage to property. A second charge of battery and of discharging a firearm near a building were dismissed.
Boyd’s lawyer Paul Bucher told the Scottish Daily Mail his client was four months from finishing his final year at Glasgow University but had to drop out because of the case.
He said: ‘Mr Boyd wants to head home and move on with his life. It would be a terrible shame if he is unable to carry on practising medicine.
‘The information we have from the Glasgow University ethics board is that they wanted to await the outcome of the case.
‘It’s not clear if they will let him finish the last four months, if he will have to repeat the whole year or if they will let him come back.’
Boyd flew into a rage on August 11 last year after travelling to Wisconsin to visit Miss Kelly, 25, from Dalgety Bay, Fife, a vet who was working in the city of New Berlin.
In an interview he admitted he lost his cool when he found Mr Mayer in her bedroom.
Speaking after the incident Boyd, 23, said: ‘I caught my girlfriend in bed with another guy, threw punches at him and chased him out of the apartment.
‘She ran away with him… I was standing at the apartment and I was distraught.
‘I took his bag out the back and started emptying it and lo and behold there was a firearm. I pulled it out, a bullet goes off into the distance in front of me.
‘At this point there was nobody there apart from myself. There were no gun shots fired at anyone, there was no intention of firing gun shots at anyone.
‘On paper it looks terrible, especially if you look at the police reports, but in real life I caught my girlfriend in bed with another guy.’
Boyd claimed he fired the gun by accident and never wanted to harm anyone.
He had tried to return to Wisconsin for a court hearing in April, but was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and denied entry into the country because he did not have a visa.
Boyd was jailed on Wednesday for 30 days each for the battery charge and causing criminal damage to property, to run concurrently.
He was given four days off his term for time spent in custody and is also likely to receive a 25 per cent reduction in his sentence for good behaviour, meaning he will be out next month.
Mr Bucher said: ‘I was impressed by Tony for manning up and dealing with this. He could have chosen not to come back to America but he returned here and is serving his time.
‘In court he read a statement to the court and apologised to the court, he apologised to the victim and he apologised to the Government. His father was in court and spoke on his behalf.’
According to the General Medical Council, doctors in the UK are obliged to report criminal convictions from ‘anywhere in the world’.
Boyd’s conviction could make him less appealing to hospitals where he would potentially be applying to work.
A spokesman for Glasgow University said: ‘The university has procedures for considering students’ conduct and fitness to practise in professions such as medicine and these would normally be used in circumstances such as these.
‘Conduct proceedings and their outcomes are confidential between the university and the student.’
‘Girlfriend in bed with another guy’