Soldier fined over T in the Park attack

Published on 08/02/2013 12:59

A SOLDIER headbutted a woman and hit another with a chair in a violent unprovoked attack during a major music festival.

Darren Chalmers – who is based at Glencorse Barracks, just outside Penicuik, Midlothian – lashed out at the pair of women as he tried to locate a music player, which had been taken by other people, at the T in the Park campsite.

The 20-year-old, who serves with the 2 Scots Royal Highland Fusiliers, had denied carrying out the attacks at the festival in Balado, near Kinross, last summer.

But he was yesterday found guilty of two charges after a trial at Perth Sheriff Court.

Trouble flared at the festival on July 7 last year after soldier Chalmers approached Lyndsay Frame and Ashley Brown – both from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire – over the missing music player.

The women said they knew nothing about the device, but Chalmers then struck Miss Frame on the head with a chair and headbutted Miss Brown in the face.

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis fined Chalmers £1000 and the squaddie was also ordered to pay a total of £250 compensation to his victims – after leaving them both with injuries.