A top economist who punched a policeman in the face during an after-hours drinking session at an international summit has avoided jail.
Dr Andrew Sloan, 44, lashed out after refusing to pay his bar bill at Jersey’s L’Horizon Hotel bar.
The civil servant was staying at the posh venue to represent Guernsey in talks between Channel Islands finance chiefs and their British and Irish counterparts.
Jersey Magistrates Court heard how Sloan, Guernsey’s chief economist, started abusing staff when they refused to keep serving him alcohol.
He then refused to pay, insisting the organisers of the British Irish Council Summit should instead pick up the tab.
When a police officer arrived to escort him up to his room he turned and punched him in the jaw, the court heard.
Sloan’s lawyer said he was “mortified” by his behaviour and had lost track of how much he’d drunk because “someone had kept topping up his glass” before the spat, just after midnight last Friday.
He pleaded guilty to disorderly behaviour and assaulting a police officer.
Magistrates sentenced Sloan to 70 hours of community service, fined him £500 and ordered him to pay a further #500 in compensation to the policeman.
Top officials from across the British Isles had been meeting to discuss ways of tackling the economy and bringing down unemployment.
