A man charged with breach of the peace after the Duke of York was allegedly heckled as he walked behind the Queen’s coffin will not face court, prosecutors have said.
The 22-year-old was arrested after the incident, which occurred as Andrew walked in the procession as it made its way from the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh to St Giles’ Cathedral on September 12.
The Crown Office said the case has been dealt with “by way of an offer of an alternative to prosecution”.
A spokesman said: “The procurator fiscal received a report concerning a 22-year-old male in connection with an alleged incident on September 12, 2022.
READ MORE: Man charged over Stonehaven disturbance after police discharge firearm
“After full and careful consideration of all facts and circumstances, the case was dealt with by way of an offer of an alternative to prosecution.”
Alternatives to prosecution can include warnings, work orders, fines and compensation orders, however the Crown Office said it could not say what alternative was used in this case.
Prosecutors also said no action will be taken at this time against a woman who held an anti-monarchy sign ahead of the accession proclamation of King Charles III in Edinburgh.
The 22-year-old was arrested outside St Giles’ Cathedral on September 11.
The Crown Office said: “The procurator fiscal received a report relating to a 22-year-old female and an incident said to have occurred on September 11, 2022.
“After careful consideration of the facts and circumstances of the case, including the available admissible evidence, the procurator fiscal decided that there should be no proceedings taken at this time.
“The Crown reserves the right to proceed in the future if it is appropriate and in the public interest to do so.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here