‘Radioactive’ man will now stand trial

A 56-year-old man will go on trial for fraud next month – after tests by nuclear experts showed he was no longer radioactive.

Martin Ferguson had been banned from going on trial at Perth Sheriff Court towards the end of 2011 because he was said to pose a danger to the public.

The court was told he posed a radioactive risk because of a course of medical treatment he was going through and his trial had to be postponed.

But wheelchair-bound Ferguson appeared in court personally yesterday and his trial in connection with a £7,000 fraud has been given the go-ahead for next month.

Ferguson, along with his wife Maureen, 47, of Muirmont Court, Perth, is accused of obtaining thousands of pounds by fraud at various Post Office branches around Perthshire.

On 17 November last year, the couple’s trial was put off after Sheriff Lindsay Foulis was warned about the potential hazard of having Ferguson sit in a public courtroom.