The young man’s face is out of picture, the camera focusing only on the gash splitting his thumb from the rest of his fingers.

A young woman told a jury how she was ambushed by a teenage sex attacker and pulled down a dark alleyway in Edinburgh’s New Town.

For 30 agonising years, the families of Christine Eadie and Helen Scott had hoped for justice. Last night, after a sensational day of twists and turns, that hope had turned to dust.

The chief executive of a crisis-hit health board has been suspended over alleged discrepancies in his CV.

Garages and petrol station forecourt shops across Scotland may be forced to stop selling alcohol within two years under new laws.

The Scottish smoking ban has led to a significant advance in public health, the most detailed scientific study of the measure so far has suggested.

Public Health Minister Shona Robison has rebuked NHS Grampian for its failure to meet targets for drug-treatment waiting times in light of a report showing Aberdeen has one of the highest rates of addiction in the country.

The children of failed asylum seekers are being held alongside hardened criminals as Scotland’s Dungavel detention centre is increasingly used as a repository for dangerous foreign prisoners.

One violent crime is committed every 37 minutes in Scotland as the country fails to tackle the “blades menace”. The latest statistics show a slight increase in the number of crimes and offences overall last year to more than a million.

Palliative care should become a core part of training for all health professionals, a report by Help the Hospices has recommended. The national hospices charity has made a number of suggestions to help shape the DoH’s end of life care strategy for adults in England.