The son of a bankrupt mining tycoon left a business rival scarred for life after an argument about an unpaid debt spiralled out of control.
Violent Scott Gillespie lashed out at businessman Greg Ross in the changing rooms of an upmarket leisure club.
The attacker is the son of Graham Gillespie, a self-made mining mogul, who went bust with colossal debts. The 37-year-old victim, who is the ex of radio DJ Suzie McGuire, had taken his 10-year-old daughter swimming at Parklands Country Club, Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire, when the attack happened on January 31.
Mr Ross had loaned cash to the 57-year-old head of the family before he went bust.
The loan was secured with a written contract but had not been paid back when the attack took place.
The fracas resulted in Mr Ross suffering a gash to his lip which had to be sewn shut by medics. It also resulted in a court appearance for Gillespie, who has been sentenced to 300 hours community service.
The 41-year-old admitted causing an assault to severe injury when he appeared at Paisley Sheriff Court on February 25.
Gillespie, of Giffnock in East Renfrewshire, who earns £70,000-a-year as a property consultant, was also fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £500 compensation by Sheriff James Spy.
Members of the Gillespie dynasty, from Airdrie, Lanarkshire, made their fortune from mining. Mining and property magnate Graham Gillespie was one of Scotland’s richest men before his empire crumbled.
He was declared insolvent in 2012 with debts of £12.8 million. It was recently revealed how liquidators forced the former Olympic showjumper out of his mansion near Auchterarder, Perthshire, which cost a reported £10 million to build.
Kirkton Park which sits in seven acres of grounds and boasts its own private cinema is being sold for £3.4 million.
“We are marketing the house and have had a number of expressions of interest,” liquidators BDO have revealed previously.
A former major Rangers shareholder, Mr Gillespie Senior drives an expensive Bentley with a private plate and was once banned from Gleneagles Hotel after taking offence at a man who asked former footballer Graeme Souness for an autograph.
He counts Sir Sean Connery, Stephen Hendry and Sir David Murray among his friends.
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