9am Briefing: Lawyer who stole £400,000 from pensioner is freed from jail

FORMER lawyer Michael Karus, who stole £400,000 from a pensioner's estate, has been released from prison after serving just 12 months of a three-and-a-half-year sentence.

Karus, 49, has reportedly been seen out and about in Edinburgh, though it is understood he has to wear an electronic tag until the summer and must be home before 7pm each night.

• TWO policemen, two children, and a 64-year-old woman were among those injured on the roads in the Lothians yesterday.

The policemen were on the A703 near Leadburn on their way to an accident on the Auchencorth Moss road near to Harlaw Muir, Penicuik, when their car came off the road, leaving them with minor injuries. Two children received minor injuries in the accident they were travelling to, and another man was cut free of his vehicle - all three were taken to hospital. The 64-year-old woman suffered serious head, neck and pelvic injuries when she was struck by a car in Easthouses Road, Mayfield, Dalkeith.

• FOOTBALLER David Goodwillie has been charged in connection with an alleged serious sexual assault on a 24-year-old woman in Armadale, West Lothian on January 2. The 21-year-old Dundee United player has been released to appear at Livingston Sheriff Court at a later date.

His clubmate, David Robertson, 24, was also questioned by officers over the alleged incident. He has not been charged.

• THE most expensive flat ever sold in Scotland has reportedly gone for 2.5 million. The antique-filled flat at Whittinghame House, East Lothian, had been on the market for eight months, before being bought by a bidder who has not been named.

The flat is in what were once the state rooms of the mansion, which was built in 1817 for the wealthy Balfour family.