A full hearing over a move to retry a man over the death of his mother under double jeopardy legislation will take place in November.

Sean Flynn was cleared by a jury of the murder of Louise Tiffney on a not-proven verdict following a trial at the High Court in Perth in 2005.

He had denied the charge against him.

Ms Tiffney, 43, was last seen leaving her home in Dean Path, Edinburgh, in May 2002 and her remains were found near a stately home in Longniddry, East Lothian, in April 2017.

In November last year, the Crown revealed Scotland’s top prosecutor, Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC, has applied to the High Court for authority to set aside the acquittal and prosecute Flynn again for the alleged murder of Ms Tiffney.

A procedural hearing on the application was held before three senior judges at the Appeal Court in Edinburgh on Wednesday.

After hearing defence and Crown submissions, judge Lord Menzies set a four-day hearing to begin on Tuesday November 26.

Flynn was not present in court.

This is the fourth application made by the Crown since changes to double jeopardy laws came into force in 2011.

Under the Double Jeopardy (Scotland) Act 2011, an accused can be retried for a crime for which they were previously acquitted under a limited set of circumstances.