A court has been told a solicitor would not have put his unblemished record at risk by getting involved in a plot to ransom a stolen Leonardo da Vinci.

In his closing speech, defence QC David Burns said David Boyce, 63, should be cleared of a conspiracy charge.

He said claiming his client could have got involved amounted to a "startling proposition".

Mr Boyce is one of five men who deny conspiring to extort £4.25m to bring back the Madonna of the Yarnwinder.

The painting was stolen from the Duke of Buccleuch's Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfries and Galloway in 2003.