A LOTTERY winner has admitted battering his lover in a domestic attack, a year after his marriage collapsed.
Shamed Barry Chuwen, 54, seized Holly Mcleod by the throat and right arm before booting her body during the assault at his Paisley home.
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The former hairdresser scooped £4.6million with then-wife Jenny, 55, in 1997 and blew his fortune on fast cars and property.
His lawyer Charlie McCusker told Paisley Sheriff Court: “He has been struggling despite good fortune in the past. His personal life is a bit of a mess.”
Chuwen splashed out on £1.8million home and a property empire after his massive win.
But he was declared bankrupt in 2013 and split from his wife last year after he admitted falling for Ms Mcleod, of Carmyle, Glasgow.
Both she and his spouse worked for his firm MQ Estate Agents.
To compound his fall from grace, it was revealed earlier this year that a kids charity he set up is facing a financial probe.
The dad of three was last week sentenced to 150 hours’ unpaid work, a year’s supervision and banned from harassing Ms Mcleod for two years.
Chuwen earlier revealed his life had unravelled during the split from his wife and business worries.
He said: “During this difficult time in our lives, I developed a relationship with someone who I met through work. I have apologised to Jenny and our children.”
Chuwen was just 27 when he became one of Scotland’s biggest lottery winners.
He and his wife snapped up new homes, a fleet of supercars and enjoyed skiing and golf holidays.
But he was ashen-faced as he appeared in the dock before Sheriff Eoin McGinty.
He pled guilty earlier to attacking Ms McLeod, shouting, swearing and uttering offensive remarks.
His brief Mr McCusker said Chuwen was in “temporary” digs then “rented accommodation” following his arrest despite a former property portfolio worth millions.
He added: “My client minimises his actions but he accepts responsibility. He has ten employees — two are his ex wife and the complainer.”
Sheriff McGinty told Chuwen: “I found your partner to be believable — I don’t find you believable in the slightest.”
Despite reports earlier this year that Chuwen’s marital home in Whitecraigs, near Glasgow, was on sale for £1.75million following the marriage collapse, he gave his bail address as the five-bed mansion.
After scooping the jackpot, he gifted his city centre salon to staff before embarking on a career as a property investor and estate agent.
But the 2008 credit crunch decimated his property portfolio, which had seen his firm and subsidiaries buy up commercial properties and rent them out including to Glasgow’s Italian Centre and Versace.
The Bank of Scotland pulled the plug on the venture after debts started to spiral in 2013.
In May this year, it emerged that charity regulators were examining the finances of The Teddy Bear Foundation, a registered charity set up by the Chuwens in 2004 following the still birth of their son Ted.
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The foundation, of which the couple are sole trustees, paid out hundreds of thousands of pounds on treats such as panto trips, playground equipment for schools, trips to Disneyland Paris and to the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator is understood to be investigating payments made to a company connected to one of its trustees last year, and has now taken action to stop any property owned by the foundation being sold.
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