Reggae star Finley Quaye arrest warrant issued
A warrant has been granted for the arrest of Reggae singer Finley Quaye after he failed to appear for his racially aggravated assault sentencing.
Quaye had earlier admitted spitting on a woman's face and punching her in Leith Walk, Edinburgh, in October 2011.
The 38-year old singer was due at Edinburgh Sheriff Court before Sheriff Fiona Reith QC but did not appear when called.
Sentence had been deferred because he had failed to pay his lawyer.
The court earlier heard that about 22:30 on 8 October 2011 a 36-year-old woman was waiting at a bus stop when Quaye approached her and said: "Do you know that this country is a racist country?" He then spat on the woman's face and hit her on the head.
Quaye's lawyer at the time, Cameron Tait, said Quaye had grown up in the Leith area and had come back to Edinburgh from London two months before the incident.
When people found out who he was, said Mr Tait, he was getting pestered in the street and subjected to racial abuse.
On the day of the incident, he had taken Codeine and been drinking in a pub in Leith Walk.
When he came out of the pub he said he had been racially abused and chased up the street by an individual.
Quaye had a number of hits in the 1990s.
The son of jazz musician Cab Kaye, he won the 1997 Mobo Award for the best reggae act and the 1998 Brit Award for best male solo artist.