A COURT case against a Cockenzie man has been deserted after it emerged that he had passed away.

Scott Hardie was due to appear for sentencing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last week after he had previously admitted to stealing alcohol from the Co-op store in Port Seton.

Hardie had also acted aggressively towards two staff members on a separate occasion by swearing, uttering threats and refusing to leave the supermarket when requested to do so.

The 42-year-old had admitted both offences, committed in October last year, during a court hearing last November.

Sentence was deferred for him to be of good behaviour to last Wednesday.

But when the case called, Sheriff Kevin McCarron was told that Hardie, of Winton Park, had died and the case was deserted.