A former Pinsent Masons and Clyde & Co lawyer has been fined and reported to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for drunkenly chasing his girlfriend round Mayfair and spitting on her.

Modern man Matt Owen, who currently works in-house at Deloitte, ran after Rachel Croft-Roberts and shouted at her about "other men" after she left his 33rd birthday party at Browns Hotel in west London. Westminster Magistrates' Court heard how Owen, who trained at Pinsent Masons before spending four years at Clyde & Co as an associate,  grabbed her by the wrists in the street and screamed abuse at her, before spitting twice in her face.

Croft-Roberts, who had been dating Owen for three months, told police that the Deloitte solicitor had attacked her several times already. The office administrator said that while on holiday he dragged her out of bed by her ankles because he was furious about photos she had posted on Facebook and Instagram. Presumably they were the same pictures the tabloids have gleefully reproduced in which Owen looks like a possessive red sausage.

He'll have to find someone else for his next holiday.

Magistrate Alexia Fetherstonhaugh told Owen, who admitted his guilt but claimed he could not remember spitting on Croft-Roberts, "this was a drawn-out and very abusive scenario" which "must have been very distressing for the victim". Owen was sentenced to an 18-month community order, 40 hours of unpaid work and an £85 fine. He now faces being struck off if the SRA decides his levels of chivalry were, as appears likely, unacceptably low for the profession.