A former police officer embezzled around £60,000 from his elderly mother's bank accounts.

Former firearms officer Andrew Rough, acting with his wife Jean, an-ex police constable, drained the bank accounts of Gladys Rough over a period of almost five years when she was aged 80 to 84.

On Friday, a jury found the pair guilty of embezzlement at Stirling Sheriff Court after a ten-day trial.

They spent the money on paying the mortgage of an upmarket home and buying hunting and fishing supplies and a brand new game gun.

The couple, both 58, also used the money on deposits for a summer house for their back garden, laser eye surgery for Andrew and groceries worth £700 a month.

The withdrawals began after Gladys' husband, also called Andrew, was taken to hospital with a stoke and the she handed her son and daughter-in-law her bank cards to do her £30 weekly shop and collect money to pay her gardener and cleaner.

She also gave them power of attorney and handed over her bank statements to them unopened.

Stirling Sheriff Court heard there was no dispute the pair had then made "repeated" withdrawals and purchases.

One account was run down to just 37p, causing a direct debit to bounce and Gladys' phone to be cut off.

The only issue was whether or not they had permission to do so.

Gladys, now 86, told the court she had told them they could also use her cards for themselves "if they were stuck," but not for anything big.

Andrew Rough insisted there were "no riders, no restrictions, no limits".

He claimed he and his wife were free to use his mother's money however they wished.

Sheriff William Gilchrist told jurors an analogy might be someone who told a babysitter to help themselves to food and drink but then found they had taken the entire contents of the wine cellar.

The court heard the pair now had almost nothing left and were living in a one-bedroom flat in Alloa, Clackmannanshire, that belonged to their grown-up son.

Around £60,000 was taken between September 2010 to July 2015.

Andrew Rough's advocate Lewis Kennedy said there was "nothing sinister" in any of the transactions.

Dale Hughes, for Jean Rough, said Gladys said had told them "repeatedly" to take what they needed for themselves, and in doing so had given them a mandate to make withdrawals for whatever they needed.

The jury of nine women and six men took less than two hours to find the Roughs guilty of embezzlement.

Sentence was deferred for reports until September 13 and they were released on bail.

Prosecutor Sarah Lumsden said Andrew and Jean Rough were "money-grabbers" who had "used her like a cash machine".

She said: "They were reckless with her money and had utter disregard for Gladys' finances. They abused her trust and left her with nothing.

"This was abhorrent, disgusting, disgraceful abuse of a lady in her 80s - and it went on for years."