A sleeping juror forced the collapse of the rape trial of an Angus man whose case was found not proven this week.
The male juror nodded off as a judge was delivering his charge to the jury in the final stages of week-long proceedings at the High Court in Aberdeen.
It was only after jurors retired to consider their verdict that court officials learned of the incident.
Amid fears the man’s involvement in early discussions may have “contaminated” the deliberations, trial judge Lord Kinclaven ruled a retrial.
The man and his alleged victim then endured the ordeal of having to give their evidence in full for a second time.
The retrial is thought to have cost thousands of pounds.
Earlier this week, after five more days of proceedings, another jury delivered a majority not proven verdict in the case.
The accused had faced a single charge of raping a woman at a house in Montrose in August 2013. He lodged a special defence of consent in the case.
The 26-year-old told The Courier: “I was absolutely raging about it. This has been hanging over my head for about two years and has pretty much wrecked my life.
“I’m just glad it is now over and done with. It’s a chapter of my life that can be closed and never opened again.”
Reporting restrictions were placed on both the original trial and the retrial to prohibit any details of the case being made public until the conclusion of proceedings.
The initial case ran during the first week in May and heard several days of evidence before closing Crown and defence submissions.
After Lord Kinclaven’s charge to the jury, the 15 men and women retired to consider their verdict.
The Courier understands a short time after retiring, the High Court clerk was alerted to the fact a man on the jury had been sleeping during the judge’s charge.
The option of carrying on with only 14 jurors was rejected because deliberations had already commenced.
The napping juror is believed to have been found in contempt of court but it is not known what punishment, if any, he received.
The accused said he was unaware of the dramatic turn of events until the retrial decision was taken.
“I got called back into the dock and they told us they were going to have to run it again,” he said.
“I was pretty annoyed that I had to go back and give my evidence all over again. I just want to forget it now.”
He was represented by counsel in the High Court trial but his local solicitor said the situation was unprecedented in his legal career.
Nick Markowski of Angus legal firm T Duncan & Co said: “I have never encountered any situation like this in over 20 years in practice,
“My client is now simply glad to be able to put the matter behind him.”