Bride, Groom And Best Man All Spend Wedding Night In Jail

A bride and groom spent their first night as a married couple behind bars after their big day descended into a chaotic mass brawl. 

The couple were arrested alongside the best man over a fight that kicked off after bride Claire Goodbrand, 26, attacked her mum Cherry-Ann Lindsay with a stiletto.

Groom Eamonn Goodbrand, 33, and his brother Kieran, who was also best man, joined in on the brawl, assaulting Lindsay’s partner David Boyd and leaving him severely injured.

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Violence erupted as family and friends celebrated the couple’s marriage at The Vu at Ballencrieff Toll in Bathgate, Scotland.

Lindsay has since said the attack at the hands of her daughter left her fearing for her life. 

The 47-year-old IT consultant told The Sun: “Claire dragged me by the hair for about two feet and she was hitting me with her shoe.

“She then grabbed me and put me in a choke hold. I couldn’t breathe. I thought I was going to die.

“I could hear Yvonne [a family friend] shouting, ‘Claire, let go of your mum. You’re going to kill her’.

“She later told me she felt terrible pulling my daughter’s hair. But she said: ‘I had to because if I hadn’t dragged her off she would have killed you.’”

Speaking about the night, which unfolded on 24 June 2019, Lindsay added: “It was just after midnight when we decided to call a taxi and we all walked outside. 

“David, my partner, was lagging behind and we went back to get him.

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“The next thing I could see him going down onto the ground. Yvonne went to try and get them off David and she said they were trying to gouge his eye out.

“I went to try and help and get Kieran off David but then Claire grabbed me and put me in a choke hold. 

“Later when the police asked me to view the CCTV he warned me it was like watching a horror movie.”

Police arrived at the scene and took away Eamonn, Claire and Kieran in handcuffs. 

They were remanded in custody in separate cells before appearing at Livingston Sheriff Court the following Monday, with all of them giving addresses in Lanarkshire.

The three were photographed when they were released from custody, with Claire wearing what appeared to be her going-away outfit while the groom and best man were dressed in prison-issued Primark tracksuits.

Professional fighter Eamonn was sporting a head injury when he was freed.

Due to the CCTV footage evidence, the trio’s legal team attempted to negotiate guilty pleas to reduce their sentences. 

The news outlet reports that they returned to court this week, where Claire pleaded guilty on indictment to assault to injury but not guilty to a more serious assault to severe injury.

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She admitted to grabbing her mum’s hair and punching and kicking her on the head and body, as well as striking her on the head with a shoe and seizing her neck.

Eamonn and Kieran both pleaded guilty to repeatedly punching and kicking David on the head and body, admitting to pushing their thumbs into his eyes, biting him and seizing his neck. The best man also admitted to the assault of another guest named Garry Brown. 

A fourth member of the family, 37-year-old Brendan Goodbrand, had his not guilty pleas to two assault charges accepted by the Crown after his alibi that he had left the venue before trouble broke out turned out to be true.

Sheriff Martin Edington decided to defer sentencing until criminal background checks on all three have been carried out. 

He adjourned the case until 29 April for information on possible disposals, including social work supervision, unpaid hours of work and restriction of liberty by electronic curfew.