THE death of a farm worker on a late-night shooting expedition has been attributed to a tragic accident.

Prosecutors studied a police report into the circumstances surrounding the death of 22-year-old Adam Hepburn last May.

He bled to death after being shot in the leg near his home at Northhouse Farm, near Hawick. The father-of-one was in a Land Rover on an expedition shooting vermin with another man when a rifle went off.

The other man in the Freelander 4x4 dialled 999 and rushed Mr Hepburn to Hawick Cottage Hospital which does not have an accident and emergency department. An ambulance raced to the hospital where paramedics attempted CPR.

Mr Hepburn was then transferred 20 miles to Borders General Hospital where he died.

A spokesman for the Crown Office said: "The Procurator Fiscal concluded no further investigation was required and the case is now closed."