Daily Record
·Aug 2026
Stirling wine merchant spared jail for sex attack after reputation damage claim
Wine merchant Douglas Wood, 51, was sentenced at Falkirk Sheriff Court to 250 hours of unpaid work after being convicted of sexually assaulting an intoxicated 20-year-old woman at his home in Bridge of Allan. He was also given a six-month overnight home restriction, two years of social work supervision and two years on the sex offenders’ register. The sheriff cited Wood’s cancer diagnosis, low risk of reoffending, lack of significant previous convictions and the jury’s deletion of allegations that he supplied a drug or intended to rape, while stressing that prison would otherwise have been inevitable. The court also considered the likely impact of the conviction on Wood’s wine business and charitable reputation.