A rape trial – which originally ran for several days at the beginning of May – was rerun at the High Court in Aberdeen when it emerged that a juror had fallen asleep whilst the judge was delivering his charge to the jury.

When he heard about the incident, Lord Kinclaven ruled a retrial and expressed concern that deliberations could have been “contaminated” by the sleeping juror. He decided not to carry on with only 14 jurors since deliberations had begun between all 15.

The re-trial saw the accused and the alleged victim give evidence in full for a second time in a situation said to be unprecedented by the accused’s solicitor.

The second trial lasted six days and ended with a not proven verdict.

The sleeping juror was found in contempt of court, but it is not known if he received punishment.