Ghey Chocolate Makers Sent Packing:

A gay couple who claim to have suffered homophobic and anti-English abuse in a remote Highland community say they are leaving the village after being taken to court accused of assaulting one of their 'tormentors'. Paul Maden, 45, and James Findlay, 40, moved to Scotland ten years ago to become chocolatiers.

They set up their luxury chocolate company, Cocoa Mountain, in the remote crofting village of Durness, Sutherland – attracting fans ranging from US senators to Yoko Ono and Prince Charles. But the couple told Dornoch Sheriff Court this week that their lifestyle had offended locals John Morrison and son Malcolm Morrison, who subjected them to a decade-long campaign of abuse.


Paul Maden and James Findlay, pictured, claim to have suffered homophobic and anti-English abuse in a remote Highland community

The stand-off culminated in an assault charge which alleged that the two gay men had flagged down ferryman John Morrison’s van and had then repeatedly punched him on the head through an open window. Mr Maden said he was acting in self-defence only and a sheriff found the case not proven. But the gay couple now say they have been driven out of Durness and will leave as soon as the economic situation improves.


Mr Findlay told the court that he had found the homophobic abuse he claimed he faced from the Morrisons ‘really upsetting’. He said: ‘We constantly live in fear. We’re looking to get away as quickly as possible but at the moment it’s difficult because of the financial climate.’

The partners live together in Durness at Balnakeil Craft Village – a former Cold War camp turned into a community for creative people.




'Offended': Malcolm Morrison, left, and John Morrison, right, from Durness leaving court on Tuesday

They claim that Mr Morrison and his son have carried out a campaign of intimidation against them since their arrival. But both denied assaulting him outside Cocoa Mountain on April 14 last year. Mr Morrison, 63, told the court on Tuesday that he had been driving past the business with his son Malcolm, 35, when the couple signalled for him to stop.

He said: ‘I wound down the window and they just started punching me.’
But Marc Dixon, defending Mr Findlay, suggested to Mr Morrison: ‘This is part of a campaign against these men that’s gone on since they moved in because you don’t like them and you don’t like their lifestyle.’ Mr Morrison denied this and Malcolm Morrison, a warden at Cape Wrath bombing range, claimed that Mr Maden and Mr Findlay had attacked his father for no reason.


They set up their luxury chocolate company, Cocoa Mountain, in the remote crofting village of Durness, Sutherland, pictured.



The couple's luxury chocolate company's website, Cocoa Mountain. The company has attracted fans ranging from US senators to Yoko Ono and Prince Charles

Mr Dickson said: ‘For whatever reason, you have chosen to dislike them and make their lives miserable.’ Malcolm Morrison replied: ‘Yes, because they make everybody’s life miserable.’

Mr Maden told the court that he heard racist and abusive shouting when Mr Morrison’s van pulled up, before the ferryman grabbed him by the collar and pulled his head and shoulders inside the vehicle. Mr Maden said he was hit on the back of his head and shoulders and lashed out to protect himself.

Sheriff Jamie Gilchrist found the case not proven but Mr Maden and Mr Findlay still intend to leave Durness, despite global success with Cocoa Mountain, which uses milk from Highland cows in its exotic chocolates, some of which are allegedly ‘natural aphrodisiacs’. Prince Charles once asked the chocolatiers to blend his Barrogill whisky into a truffle, but they turned him down because they did not want to use preservatives.

On the decision to leave, Mr Findlay said: ‘I feel Durness is quite a tolerant village. It’s just the Morrisons that have taken a dislike to us.’

Jeez, could they have squeezed "the couple" into the article any more?

Highlanders take no shyte. Unlike those lowly lowlanders bowing down to the English gay-baiters.