A CHARITY shop manager launched a vicious bottle attack in a nightclub, knocking the victim out.

Keir Wood claimed he had reacted to a homophobic remark about him and had also been grabbed by the throat.

However, his self-defence version of events was rejected following a trial at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.

Club staff heard a smashing sound then found the victim lying on the floor, covered in blood and surrounded by glass.

Wood was stopped by a doorman as he tried to flee the club immediately after the assault. He was held in a room until police arrived and he was arrested.

Wood, 31, of Ochil View, Kinross, had denied that on November 2, 2014, at The Brasshouse, Carnegie Drive, Dunfermline, he assaulted the complainer by striking him on the head with a bottle or similar implement to his injury.

At the club he told police: “He called me gay. He was at me all night so I hit him but he hit me first.”

In a police interview recorded the following afternoon and shown in court, Wood said he had been “mortal” and could remember little about the incident. He said he been drinking vodka and Red Bull since about 6pm that night. It was after 2pm before detectives felt Wood was sober enough to be interviewed.

However, at that point he could only recall being involved in a fight. He said: “I can’t remember if it happened outside or inside.”

In court, Wood said he was now able to remember more about what had happened when he and a female friend went to the nightclub.

“We were dancing. (the complainer) kept coming up to me. First, he was trying to talk to my friend but she didn’t want anything to do with him. After that, he called me a dirty faggot.

“Later, he came down from the stairs and grabbed me by the throat so I punched him.

“I knocked him out. It was just instinct. I didn’t have a bottle. I can remember it clearly now.”

Depute fiscal Ron Hay said to Wood: “You were so out of your mind that night that you attacked someone you had no interaction with.

“You’re in a pickle because you don’t have a clue what happened. In your twisted mind, people were casting aspersions about your sexuality.” Wood denied this.

Sheriff Charles Macnair told Wood: “I’m satisfied you struck him with a bottle or something similar.”

He found Wood guilty and called for reports. Sentencing will take place on October 5.

Wood is the manager of a charity shop in Dalgety Bay. He told the court: “I worked my way up from the bottom.”