A FORMER police officer who once guarded former Tory defence secretary Lord Younger's home could be spared jail after he and his wife took £60,000 from her mother's bank account.

Former firearms officer Andrew Rough, who formed part of the security detail at the late politician's Stirlingshire home in the 1980s, and former constable wife Jean, both 58, drained the bank accounts of Andrew’s mother Gladys, 86.

They spent her money on paying the mortgage of an up-market, new-build home, loading up with hunting, shooting and fishing supplies and other luxuries.

After a ten-day trial last month, a jury found the Roughs, of Alloa, Clackmannanshire, guilty of embezzlement.

They are due to be sentenced at a later date, but at Stirling Sheriff Court, Andrew Rough’s advocate, Lewis Kennedy, said Gladys Rough "didn’t want either accused to receive prison terms.”