THE former wife of a renowned Scots memory doctor has described how she feared for her life felt after he stamped twice on her head during an argument at their home.

Dr Fraser Inglis, 50, founder of the Glasgow Memory Clinic, is alleged to have attacked Elizabeth Inglis, 44, after she had cooked dinner for him and their three children at their former matrimonial home in Dunblane in February 2010.

The claim came as Dr Inglis, who specialises in pioneering research into Alzheimer's, went on trial at Stirling Sheriff Court accused of assault. He denies the charge.

The nurse told the court the attack took place after she tidied up the kitchen she went into the TV lounge, and questioned why their eldest daughter, who should have been doing homework for exams, was instead watching a programme.

She said her former husband who had been drinking red wine 'flipped.'

Mrs Inglis, who is also known as Elizabeth Rowbottom, said: "He stood up. He closed the door onto my arm as hard as he could.

"He came through into the conservatory area where I had gone, wrestled me to the ground, and very slowly and deliberately raised his foot and stamped not once but twice on the side of my head."

Mrs Inglis said she was screaming, but claimed her then husband said: "you're scum".

Mrs Inglis showed the court photographs of her face, which she said she took on a Canon camera after the incident.

She said: "He pressure of the stamp was so much that, because my head was on the floor, it caused bruising to go over to the other side.

"I had to wear makeup for a fortnight.

"It wasn't just my ear, it was my cheekbone, and my eye was all puffy.

"The damage was all over my face -- it would have been the size of a footprint."

She admitted that at the time she was battling an alcohol problem, and had drunk about five glasses of wine before the alleged attack.

But said despite her difficulties she was still managing an estate the couple had bought at Leny, Callander, and acting as treasurer for the Dunblane Playgroup.

She said: "The bruising went all yellow and green, even with makeup on, and I had to go into Playgroup and I felt so embarrassed -- I looked like a battered wife."

Mrs Inglis said she was worried that the impact of her husband's shoe might have caused her serious damage.

She said: "I didn't know what was happening to my brain. I knew that with force like that I could end up with cerebral damage.

"I was in fear of my life."

Mrs Inglis said she had since gone through Alcoholics Anonymous' 12-step programme and had dealt with her drink problem.

But she said: "I was still drinking then. He had said to me on countless occasions, 'nobody will believe you'."

Mrs Inglis added that a few days after the alleged attack, her sister had seen her injuries when she went to visit her mother in Perth.

She said her sister had told her, "I thought you were the perfect family. I never knew what was going on behind closed doors."

Earlier, police surgeon Oliver Frenschock, who examined the photographs of Mrs Inglis' injuries told the court that the bruises on her face could have been caused in many different ways.

He said: "I think the locations where the bruises are, and taking into account they are on both sides of the head, it is unlikely that these are accidental.

"I think it is more likely they are injuries that you might expect from an assault."

The trial of Mr Inglis, of Leny Feus, near Kilmahog, Perthshire, continues before Sheriff William Wood.