UVF standard was flown from Law garden flagpole

And Derek MacLeod was then charged with behaving in an aggressive or abusive manner liable to cause a reasonable person to suffer fear and alarm by flying a flag pertaining to a sectarian organisation, namely the UVF, at his detached home in Bourtree Crescent, on July 11, 2015.

But MacLeod, 39, was cleared of the charge at Lanark Sheriff Court last Wednesday after his wife denied that the flag belonged to him, and suggested instead that his brother, since reported missing, had put it up the flagpole.

Mrs MacLeod told the court that her husband had taken their children to see a walk early that morning and that she was unaware of what was flying until the police came.

She described the flag as purple and orange, but asked if those colours meant anything to her, she replied ‘no’.

The flag, unrolled in court, had a St George’s Cross in its top left corner, the letters UVF 1912 and ‘for God and Ulster’ on it, along with a hand, but she insisted all that meant nothing to her.

“I have never seen it before,” she said. “When the police came, it was an absolute shock.”

She could only suggest that it had been put up the flagpole by her husband’s brother Ronnie, who had been staying with them then.