Edinburgh courts: Former Miss Scotland convicted of biting bouncers during drunken racist outburst

Disgraced beauty queen Lucy Thomson sank her teeth into the hand of Andrew Okpaje and made the vile racist slur while she was being thrown out of the Edinburgh City 7s competition.

Thomson, 26, also bit a second security officer and shouted “do you know who I am?” and “I’ve got so much money in my account” during the drunken rant in June 2023.

Former Miss Scotland Lucy Thomson. | Alexander Lawrie

Thomson - who was the reigning Miss Scotland at the time - was arrested after Mr Okpaje called in the police to report her using racist language towards him. Footage of Thomson and her sister being ejected from the tournament by security staff was posted on social media.

The Miss Scotland Wikipedia page states she was later “dethroned” of the prestigious beauty title. Thomson denied the charges but her version of events was described by a sheriff as “utterly implausible” and she was found guilty following a two day trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Friday.

Mr Okpaje told the court he was employed as a supervisor with MK Security and was working at the Edinburgh City 7s rugby tournament at the capital’s Peffermill playing fields on June 17, 2023.

He said he was asked to attend to a report of a drunk woman at around 7pm and the decision was made “they were to be escorted off the site”.

He said as he attempted to remove the woman and her sister from the area she “started fighting back” and said to him “do you know who I am?” and “I’ve got so much money in my account”.

Screen shots of Lucy Thomson being ejected from the Edinburgh City 7s Rugby Tournament. | Alexander Lawrie

Mr Okpaje, 26, added: “As we got closer to the exit I was assaulted. We were holding her and trying to be as gentle as possible and as I had my arm up she went to bite it. It left a mark on my hand.

“I looked at her in shock and then she proceed to call me the ‘n’ word. She looked directly at me and with confidence she said ‘f*** you then, you f***ing ni**er’.”

The security guard then identified Thomson as the woman who had assaulted him and had used the racist slur. He added: “I hadn’t heard the word said to me in a while. It was quite a shock when it happened. It was pretty horrible.”

Colleague Alasdair Doolan, 32, told the trial Thomson had also bitten him on the arm during the struggle but he had not seen the assault on Andrew or heard her use racist language.

Thomson also gave evidence and denied biting the two men or using the racial slur. She said she had been invited to the event as “an ambassador” and had promoted the rugby tournament on her social media.

Security employee Andrew Okpaje, pictured left outside Edinburgh Sheriff Court - taken in February 2025 at the trial of former Miss Scotland Lucy Thomson, right. | Alexander Lawrie

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Thomson told the court she had only drunk two and half ciders all day and saw her sister being “cornered into a woodland area” by security staff before she was assaulted by one of the men.

Thomson said she was “struck from behind” by one security officer before she had her “arms pinned to her side” and “dragged across a rugby pitch” with no warning. She told the trial she did not say anything towards the employees apart from her “shouting for help”.

Thomson also denied being stripped of the Miss Scotland crown instead claiming she had “passed on the title” in September 2023.

Following the evidence Sheriff Derek O’Carroll said he found Thomson’s evidence to be “utterly implausible” and found her guilty of assaulting both men and to racially abusing Mr Okpaje.Thomson, of Crossford, Fife. She was fined a total of £790 which is to be paid within two months.

Thomson was crowned Miss Scotland at glittering ceremony at Glasgow’s Grand Central Hotel in July 2022, but following her arrest organisers stated online she had been “dethroned”. In 2020 she started non-profit BRAvery Trust charity working for bra and menstrual product donation and equipping people living in period poverty.