A race across Europe and against time to catch fugitive

for the UK to leave the EU without any formal agreement in place. Had that been the case, the European Arrest Warrant wouldn’t have been available to us.”

In the end, politicians negotiated a three-month extension on October 28 2019, meaning Yorston came within three days of evading extradition to Scotland.

On March 4 2020, Bulgarian Police raided a property in Veliko Tarnovo and led out Yorston in handcuffs. Her 201 days on the run had come to an end.

DCI Scott Fotheringham, pictured right, said: “Officers were elated when they heard Yorston had been traced in Bulgaria and thereafter it was just a case of being patient before we got her back here.”

Yorston told the authorities she could not hack life in a prison cell because her asthma makes it hard to breath in damp conditions, so she was transferred to a prison hospital.

With Yorston in custody of sorts, investigators were tempted to believe the case was signed, sealed delivered.

But they were then posed with a second obstacle as Covid-19 travel restrictions triggered a race against time.

Yorston appeared at Veliko Tarnovo District Court on March 24 2020 and confirmed she had consented to returning to Scotland with police.

The source close to the extradition process said: “This has an immediate impact on us because, under the Europe Arrest Warrant framework, we have 10 days from that point to go and get her. If we don’t, she can be discharged. The deadline would have been April 3.

“Bulgaria had declared a state of emergency on March 13. Scotland was in the middle of a lockdown. Bulgaria had travel restrictions, as did the UK.”

Bulgarian authorities eventually called their

Scottish counterparts in mid-May to say Yorston could be taken from Bulgaria.

Finally on July 2, Yorston’s journey back to Scotland began. At Edinburgh Airport, she was handed over to investigating officers and she appeared at court via video link. She was not charged with absconding, though it was taken into account during sentencing. And she pushed her luck right up until the end. A source close to the extradition process said: “The court was informed that, prior to being arrested in March 2020 she had spent 178 days under home arrest – on top of the time she served in custody in March. If true, she would have served a year less on her sentence.”

That would have meant Yorston was made subject of a home arrest on August 29 2019 – 13 days after arriving in Bulgaria. The judge asked prosecutors to look into the

Morag Yorston was fleeing through Europe when she was due at the High Court in Glasgow.