A Scottish police force is set to launch a search for human remains under its own doorstep.

Senior officers at Northern Constabulary believe the bones of an executed wife murderer may be buried under their soon-to-be-demolished headquarters.

John Adam, a 31-year-old farmer, became the last man publicly-hanged in Inverness 160 years ago after slaying wife Jean at Mulbuie in the Black Isle.

Officers investigating the aftermath of the case believe his remains may have been interred for the fifth time below their HQ in Inverness before building was completed in 1975.

Now, with the station to be demolished to make way for a new #10m complex, they are anxious to begin a search for the bones.

Inspector Willie MacLean said yesterday: ''We are aware of the storyline and actively seeking to establish where the remains are.

''We don't seem to have any record of where they may be located, but we will be taking steps to locate them - if they exist at all now.

''We don't actually know of anyone who saw them being interred here.''

Adam, hanged in 1835, was initially buried - as the law then required - in the precincts of the local jail in Bridge Street, Inverness.

But a series of redevelopments in the Highland capital means that Adam's corpse has never been able to rest in peace.

His remains were removed in 1853 for burial in the new police station at Castle Wynd. In 1912, they were unearthed accidentally during building work, but buried again at the same site.

They resurfaced 50 years later as a bulldozer driver demolished the Castle Wynd building during redevelopment of Bridge Street.

The remains were then interred at the former Farraline Park School, which served as a police station for 12 years.

At least some of Adam's bones are thought to have been moved to the present police HQ building at Culcabock, built in 1975, and may be buried beneath the cell block or entrance.

Librarian, author and historian Norman Newton has studied the Adam case at length in his recently-published book The Life and Times of Inverness, and points out the importance of hangings as entertainment.

He said: ''Along with religious gatherings and electoral meetings, executions were the most avidly supported public entertainments available to the general population.''

Yesterday he said he hoped soon to substantiate claims that the remains of Adam were buried beneath the Culcabock police HQ building.

''It would certainly be interesting to confirm they are there, as I have long suspected,'' he added.

Northern Constabulary said they were unable to say what might be done with the bones should they be unearthed again.

Adam, who was the son of a Forfarshire tenant farmer, lived for a short time in Montrose before moving to the Black Isle with bride Jean Brechin.

He is said to have murdered her in March 1835 at Mulbuie - although he protested his innocence to the last - and was hanged on October 16 that year.