Stone in the cells

“I enjoyed your recent Traces Through Time feature which showed photographs of old Arbroath,” says Maureen Robertson of the town.

“The picture of the Stone of Destiny shows my brother Alex Williamson when he was a young reporter with The Courier.

“He left school at the age of 15 and went to work in the Arbroath office for a few years before doing his National Service.

“When the word got out that the Stone of Destiny was at the abbey, he was sent round to cover the story, but the door to the abbey was locked.

“However, he had been a pupil at bthe Abbey School and knew the geography of the area very well.

“He shinned over a wall and landed up in amongst the police officers. Nobody knew who he was!

“He later told a tale, unconfirmed, that nobody knew what to do with the stone and so it was taken to the police station in Forfar and locked in a cell for the night.

“Alex went on to work as a journalist down south, mostly in London, after a brief spell in Dundee when he worked for both the Weekly News and the People’s Journal.”