JURY trials have resumed in the Borders for the first time since the COVID lockdown in March 2020.

The first case got under way at Jedburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday involving a Hawick man accused of four offences.

When jury trials started up again after the COVID lockdown, the sheriff courts at Jedburgh and Selkirk were deemed not suitable enough to comply with the social distancing restrictions that were required.

As a result Borders cases requiring a jury were transferred to Edinburgh.

Now after a gap of more than two-and-a-half years they have returned to the Borders.

A jury was elected at Selkirk Sheriff Court on Monday afternoon so that they could be available for the first case to get underway on Tuesday at Jedburgh.

Following a two-day trial 31-year-old William Devlin from Hawick was acquitted on a charge of hamesucken – the ancient Scots Law term for assaulting someone in their own home – and a charge of assault to injury was found not proven by the jury.

But the jury found him unanimously guilty of threatening or abusive behaviour in an incident in Hawick and also obstructing police.

Sentence was deferred until November 7 at Jedburgh Sheriff Court for the purpose of obtaining a Caledonian Men’s Assessment, Criminal Justice Social Work Report and a Restriction of Liberty Order Assessment.