AN AUCHINLECK man flew off the handle and headbutted a bar worker when he was repeatedly asked to remove a fashion accessory.

And while a court did not officially ban 25-year-old Josh Atkinson from the North Ayrshire boozer - he admitted he won't be returning there.

It comes after Atkinson, of Glenshamrock Drive, pleaded guilty to two charges relating to the incident in Irvine's Bar Sport on November 20, 2022.

He admitted one charge of assault on one of the bar's door stewards, by headbutting him to his injury.

Atkinson also pleaded guilty to acting in a threatening and abusive manner by shouting, swearing, acting aggressively and repeatedly uttering homophobic and dergogatory remarks at a policeman.

During his appearance at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court on Thursday, April 6, the procurator fiscal depute explained the simple situation which led to these charges.

They explained how there was a "no hat" rule in the Irvine bar - so CCTV images can always be clear should they be required.

But when Atkinson entered the bar while on a night out with work friends, he was seen to be wearing a baseball cap.

The fiscal depute explained: "The accused entered with a baseball cap on and was repeatedly asked to remove this.

"He had taken this off but put it back on a short while later."

When security staff then came back to Atkinson, asking him to take his hat off once again, this is when he became "verablly abusive" towards the staff.

At this stage, he was asked to leave the premises. Atkinson then entered the security staff's "personal space" and said to him "so you think you’re a f*****g hard man?”.

The fiscal debute added: "The security man took the accused by the arm as he looked to remove him from the premises.

"Mr Atkinson then 'butted' him in the face causing a cut to the inside of his mouth."

As a result of this, the security guard and other door stewards tackled the accused to the ground and phoned 999 and kept him there until police arrived and placed him under arrest.

Upon the arrival of the the police, the court heard how the accused became irate.

They heard how Atkinson proceeded to call officers “f*****g rats, rat b******s and f*****g s****bags”.

He also locked eyes with one officer in particular and said “look at you, you f****** p***, f*****g p*****r”.

He also called him a “f*****g f****t” and indicated that he would “see you again”.

Defending Atikinson, solicitor Quinton Muir told the court how he was aware “the issue was to do with him wearing a hat” but that it “wasn’t explained to him why”, which made the situation escalate.

He added that he accused was “very much ashamed of his conduct” and has shown remorse, hence his guilty plea at the first opportunity.

Passing sentence, the court's sheriff told Atikinson that “your behaviour leaves quite a lot to be desired”.

She added: “I have heard the narration of this case, it does you no credit whatsoever.”

Though she said that she would consider that this "is probably a one off incident on your part".

Atkinson, a father of one, has no previous convictions.

He was fined a total of £520 but was not banned from Bar Sport by the court, although  he said the pub was not his local and he had no intentions of returning.