A Scottish fund manager and novelist who attacked his wife during a campaign of domestic abuse has been spared a jail sentence.
Peter Ross Leckie, 65, seized his spouse Sophie Leckie the neck during one assault at the couple’s former £1m home at Royal Terrace in Edinburgh.
Leckie - who attended the capital’s exclusive Fettes College at the same time as former PM Tony Blair - also assaulted the woman by repeatedly poking her to the body on a separate occasion.
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The historical author was also convicted of charges including behaving in a threatening or abusive manner towards Mrs Leckie and to angrily kicking a door within the plush city centre property.
All the incidents took place between September 2012 and June 2018.
Leckie denied a total of 10 allegations of abusive behaviour but was found guilty by a jury of four charges following a trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month and he returned to the dock for sentencing on Wednesday.
Sheriff Chris Dickson said: ““This is an anxious case involving a toxic break up of a relationship.
“Charges on the indictment taken as a whole offence are serious but the jury has found you guilty of [four] charges on various occasions which means you have been convicted of less serious charges.
“In all the circumstances I am satisfied there is an alternative to custody and I propose to make a community payback order instead of sending you to prison.”
Leckie, of Glenquiech, near Forfar, Angus, was placed on an offenders’ supervision order for the next 24 months and ordered to carry out 140 hours of unpaid work in the community.
The fund manager was also handed a 10-year non-harassment order banning him from contacting Mrs Leckie and from entering the pair’s former home at Royal Terrace.
The sheriff also sentenced Leckie to a programme requirement where he will have to attend sessions with the Fergus Programme when recommended to do so.
Ronnie Renucci QC, defending, said there had been “no evidence of physical harm” suffered by the victim during the two assault incidents and his client had “lost his position” with his employers.
Mr Renucci added: “Much of these incidents were as a result of alcohol being taken by both parties.
“Mr Leckie is a highly intelligent man and he has a sophisticated degree of insight and he recognises that alcohol, perhaps, was approaching a situation where he may have been having a problem with alcohol.
“He has now been absent from that alcohol use since June 2019.”
Following the jury’s guilty verdict Leckie, a father of 11, resigned from his position as a partner with London fund company Artemis Investment Management.
He was also a director with Scots fund manager Martin Currie Investment between 2004 and 2007 and had a short spell with Marview Investment Partnership.
Leckie is a writer of historical novels and is best known for his acclaimed Carthage trilogy.
He attended the Drumtochty Castle Preparatory School in Aberdeenshire and the exclusive boarding school Fettes College in Edinburgh before going on to study Classics at Oxford University.
The novelist stood three times unsuccessfully for election as a Conservative MP and has had various careers including farming, teaching and journalism.
Leckie sold the rights to his 1995 novel Hannibal to Fast and Furious star Vin Diesel and was employed as a special adviser during the filming of the £200 million Hollywood movie adaption.
The violent historical epic is based on Leckie’s fictionalised memoir of the 3rd century Carthaginian leader who led an army across the Pyrenees for an assault on Rome.
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