LEADING businesswoman Linda Urquhart OBE has been named Action for Children Scotland's Woman of Influence 2015.

Ms Urquhart, a former solicitor who chairs Edinburgh-based law firm, Morton Fraser, scooped the award at a ceremony at Glasgow's Grand Central hotel on Sunday night.

She beat off competition from top author and broadcaster, Muriel Grey; Baroness Mobarik of Mearns, CBE; group HR director at William Grant & Son, Rosemary McGinness, and Margaret Anne Ford, Baroness Ford of Cunninghame to lift the award, which celebrates women who have had an important impact on society.

Organisers said she had made an "outstanding contribution to the community and business sector", particularly helping charities.

The event also raised more than £80,000 in aid of Action for Children Scotland.

The ceremony also recognised 18-year-old Molly Murdoch, who received support from Action for Children Scotland after she started taking drugs aged 13 and fell pregnant aged 15. The charity helped her turn her life around.