'˜Walter Mitty' soldier denies assaulting partner

Danny Hutchison (43) is alleged to have assaulted and injured his partner, Navada Mungall, uttered threats of violence towards her, seized her by the body and by her clothes, pushed her and pulled her and causing her to hit her head against a wall at their flat in Bo’ness.

He is then said to have kicked her on the body and seized her by the neck with his hands and applied pressure so that she had trouble breathing.

In the alleged incident, in Union Court, he is also said to have been threatening and abusive, thrown household items around, and thrown some of Navada’s property into the street and set fire to it.

At Falkirk Sheriff Court today Hutchison, a former Army clerk, now a store detective, pleaded not guilty to the charge against him.

Defence solicitor Simon Hutchison said that he had only just received details of the Crown’s case.

Sheriff Derek Livingston said the court had received a letter from Navada, 45, seeking the lifting of a bail condition that has kept her and the accused apart since the alleged incident on April 30.

Sheriff Livingston ordered Hutchison to appear in court at a further preliminary hearing next week to make sure that all is ready for summary trial later in June.

The sheriff asked the procurator fiscal depute, Catherine Knowles, to consider Navada’s request before the continued preliminary hearing.

Hutchison’s false story of being blown up in Afghanistan was exposed by military veterans on the Walter Mitty Hunters Club Facebook page where he issued an apology for the trouble it had caused in an open letter earlier this month.