Partner Sentenced in Car Vandalism Case

Personal Lives

Posted Oct 31, 2007, 12:46 pm CST
By Martha Neil

After over-imbibing at his mother's 80th birthday party, a senior partner at a well-known Scottish real estate law firm went a bit wild.

However, solicitor Paul Hutcheson, 43, has taken steps to make restitution to the owners of 11 cars parked outside the golf club at which the party was held for his admitted May 20 vandalism spree. (In one case, after being caught in the act of ripping the windshield wiper off a car, the Aberdein Considine partner simply handed over a bank card and told the startled to victim to use it to take care of the damage, reports the British Broadcasting Corp.)

Nonetheless, Sheriff Lindsay Foulis told Hutcheson at sentencing in Perth Sheriff Court that he had let the profession down and left him with no choice but to impose a hefty 1,000-pound fine, in order to avoid the appearance of favoritism to a legal system insider, the BBC article continues.

"This would be bad enough if it was some 17-year-old who had too much to drink," the sheriff lectured the law partner.

A law firm spokesman says Hutcheson has has apologized to all concerned for his "momentary madness" and will keep his job. "He is deeply ashamed by his actions, by the distress caused to the car owners and also the damage done to his own and to his family's reputation, as well as to the reputation of our firm," the spokesman says.

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