9am Briefing: Passengers left stranded as volcanic ash from Iceland shuts airport

PASSENGERS were left stranded at Edinburgh Airport today after a cloud of volcanic ash from an eruption in Iceland forced its closure.

More than 150 flights were cancelled after the huge plume of ash moved into Scottish airspace.

All of Scotland's other airports were shut and there were disruptions at others across the UK, including Manchester, Liverpool, Stansted, Newcastle and Birmingham.

Tobin ill ahead of appeal

SERIAL killer Peter Tobin was treated in hospital after he fell ill with a suspected stroke ahead of a court hearing.

Tobin was due to appear at the High Court in Edinburgh today to appeal against the length of his sentence for the murder of schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton in 1991.

The West Lothian schoolgirl's body was found along with another of Tobin's victims, Dinah McNicol, in the garden of one of his former homes in Margate, Kent, in November 2008.

Boyle tells of intruder fear

SINGING sensation Susan Boyle has spoken about her terror when she arrived home to be confronted by an intruder insider her house at Blackburn, West Lothian.

The Britain's Got Talent star, 49, said: "I opened the front door and the guy just came down the stairs and brushed past me.

"That scared the living daylights out of me and I don't know how the hell he got in. There's no question about it, my security was OK, it was just that particular night was a bad night."

A 16-year-old has since been charged in connection with the alleged break-in in January.