A man cleared of the murder of a waiter more than 15 years ago can be tried again under double jeopardy legislation, judges have ruled.

At a hearing at the Court of Appeal in Edinburgh, the judges granted prosecutors permission to retry Ronnie Coulter, 46, over the death of Surjit Singh Chhokar.

Mr Chhokar, 32, died in Overtown, North Lanarkshire, on November 4 1998.

Two other men, Andrew Coulter, 33, and David Montgomery, 37, were also previously acquitted and will not stand trial again.

Speaking outside the court alongside Mr Chhokar's sister Manjit Sangha, the family's solicitor Aamer Anwar said: "Today is an important decision but I hope you will appreciate that as proceedings are live, it would be inappropriate to proceed any further."