A KINGLASSIE man who had been serving a six years prison sentence has been released after an appeal against his conviction was upheld by the High Court of Appeal in Edinburgh.

John McGarva, from the Central Fife village, had been found guilty of assaulting young girls in 1997 and 2014 following trial at Dundee Sheriff Court.

Mr McGarva, 72, was given the sentence after a jury had been told it was his third child sex abuse conviction.

However, his legal team appealed the conviction on the premise that the evidence of the alleged victims could not be safely corroborated.

And at the High Court of Appeal the appeal was accepted and the ruling and sentence overturned.