Stefan SeegerGAZETTE & HERALD: Businessman Stefan Seeger has expressed his fury after police mistakenly branded him a drunken troublemaker.

Police released Mr Seeger's name to the press last Wednesday, claiming he had been banned from all the town centre pubs after assaulting a female publican and breaking two of her windows.

But Mr Seeger was not the perpetrator and said he may now take legal action to clear his name.

This week both the police and Pub Watch apologised to Mr Seeger and said they were investigating the mistake.

It is the first time a person had been named and shamed under Chippenham's new Pub Watch scheme. Mr Seeger was at home in The Causeway, Chippenham on Wednesday night, when the police called to notify him of his 'ban.'

It is believed Mr Seeger was wrongly identified after his name was taken in error from the police computer. It was still logged there following a car accident in 1994 in which a motorcylist died. He was sentenced to three years in prison after admitting a charge of causing death by careless driving.

He served 18 months. Tragedy struck within a year of his release when his seven-day-old son died from cot death.

Since then he has tried to rebuild his life but this took a major setback when he was wrongly accused last week.

He said: "I opened the front door and an officer asked are you Stefan Seeger?" he said.

"I said 'Yes' and he told me I had been banned from the town centre pubs for 12 months for assaulting the landlady and breaking windows at the Pack Horse pub on March 2.

"I said 'that's not me, you've got the wrong man,' but he explained that his job was just to deliver the letter," said Mr Seeger.

"I took the letter from him, threw my dinner in the bin and raced up to the Pack Horse to find out what was going on.

"Of course the landlady knew it wasn't me who had assaulted her straight away and by the time I left there, I thought it was just an error and would all be sorted out.

"But on Thursday when I went to pick up my son up from school, a friend of my wife came over and told me my name was on the front of the Gazette my heart sank."

Mr Seeger said he went straight to Chippenham police station, in search of answers.

"I spoke to Alan Millward, the licensing officer, and said I needed it sorted out because I had been branded a criminal. He apologised, but the damage is done as far as I'm concerned.

"I've lived in this area all my life but now my whole character and reputation have been damaged.

"On top of the humiliation of it all, this couldn't come at a worse time for me. I'm appearing in court this week to get legal access to my son from my previous relationship. What are the courts going to think about me supposedly being banned from all those pubs for violent and drunken behaviour?"

Mr Seeger said being wrongly implicated could also be the death knell for his stonemasonry business.

"I've been working hard to set up my own business, Seeger Masonry, and have been dishing out flyers everywhere," he said.

"Who is going to employ me if everyone thinks I've done this?

Inspector Neil Bagnall of Chippenham Police said: "We apologise for any distress or inconvenience caused to Mr Seeger. Investigations are still going on to find out what happened here."

Lionel Hadland, chairman of Chippenham Pub Watch also apologised for the mistake.